Malaysia Day: We Are Better Together

September 16, 2015, 7:41 am

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Happy Malaysia Day! Since Merdeka Day leading to Malaysia Day, I've been thinking about this question - what made our forefathers from different communities joint hand to give birth to this country, which we now call home? Did they really know each other? Did they really love each other? I don't think so.

I think perhaps what they thought then was that it was better that they learn how to live together despite the differences to achieve a greater goal - freedom from colonialism. They knew that it was better to live together despite the differences than to live under the tyranny of the colonialist. I believe it was the pragmatism of our forefathers and their desire for freedom that bind us together. Our forefather realised that WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER.

More than 50 years have passed, we grew from knowing each other a little to knowing each other a little more. Many true friendships were built between people of different colours, many heart-warming stories were written in this short history of the nation. Malaysians have grown to respect and love each other. Like it or not, we are and will still be stuck with each other, because WE ARE STILL BETTER TOGETHER, for freedom from the tyranny of the government and most importantly for a better future. So live with it, enjoy it, and love it. Our differences made us uniquely Malaysian. Our differences have created such love and attachment towards our homeland no matter how far we are (best demonstrated by Bersih held in 75 cities around the world).

Indeed, there is still a small group of people that think that it is better to divide the country than to unite it. They incite hatred and misunderstanding between different groups of communities. They burnt effigies in anger and hurl racist remarks one after another. In response to this, I am reminded of this quote from Martin Luther King, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hatred cannot drive out hatred, only love can do that."

Therefore, let us choose to love even the racist Malaysians of the red rally, let us pray that one day their eyes will be opened to see what's important to the nation. Let us refrain from racial-stereotyping remarks lest we pass that down to the next generation. Let us instead of complaining about racial divide, be the bridges that connect different communities. It is indeed a long and rough road ahead but I pray that we'll all do our parts to ensure Malaysia will continue to be a land that all Malaysians proud to call home.

Once again, my fellow Malaysians, Happy Malaysia Day!

p/s: This is one of my favourite photos of the year with other young DAP comrades in a Buka Puasa event. We are bind together by our dream for a better Malaysia.

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Selangor should Avoid Off-Budget Spending

September 21, 2015, 6:30 pm

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Media Statement written by Yeo Bee Yin, Committee Member of Selangor Agencies, Statutorary Bodies and Government-Link-Companies (GLCs) Select Committee (JP-ABAS) and State Assemblyperson of Damansara Utama on Thursday 10 September 2015. 

Selangor should avoid off-budget spending via Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) and incorporate such expenditure into the State Assembly approved Budget.

Recently controversy erupted in Selangor legislature when JP-ABAS tabled a report on Dahrul Ehsan Investment Group (DEIG) and expressed its concerns over the newly formed state-owned investment firm. 100% owned by MBI, DEIG will be the holding company for the 74 GLCs currently under MBI with a combined land bank of more than 5,000 acre of state lands and a combined asset value of RM6.3 billion. It is to also to be the “investment holding-arm for the state of Selangor.” [1]

The proponent of DEIG believes that DEIG is necessary in order to separate the conflicting objectives of MBI between people’s welfare and profit maximizing. It is also to ensure “sustainable value creation and broaden Selangor state’s income base away from its current reliance on land related levies and taxes” [2] by rationalizing the 74 GLCs under MBI and consolidating their assets under DEIG. 

I believe that the objectives of the formation of DEIG are noble. In fact, as a commitee member of JP-ABAS, the select committee has gone through many cases of low performance of Selangor GLCs and one of the reasons is the conflicting social and economic functions of GLCs resulting in GLCs inability to benchmark the firms’ financial and operational performance indicators against the industrial average and subsequently the lack of corporate discipline to improve their performances. In addition, restructuring of GLCs and asset consolidation is also what JP-ABAS was pushing for in December 2014 state assembly session by tabling a select committee report listing the reasons why it needs to be done. 

Nevertheless, I believe the above objectives do not need to be achieved by forming DEIG. 

In term of separating between the conflicting social and economic objectives of MBI, the suggestion that DEIG to focus on commercial function while MBI on social function will allow MBI to make off-budget spending. As of the structure now, MBI can decide where to spend the profits in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR) or sponsorship to state social programs without the approval of the state assembly nor does it need to report the spending to the state aseembly unless MBI Enactment 1994 is amended. Such off-budgetexpenditure reduces transparency and complicates budget analysis. 

I believe a more transparent model is for MBI to focus on profit-maximizing and value-creation objective and then pay dividends deriving from the profits of the GLCs to the state government. This dividend will be a source of revenue to the state government, which is incorporated into the state annual budget. The state government can then include all social programs in the annual budget, which will be tabled, debated and passed in the state assembly every end of the year. At such, we can avoid off-budget expenditure and all the spending will be in-line with the policies and directions agreed and passed in the state assembly. Such state-owned-enteprise (SOE) dividend model is widely practiced by SOEs or sovereign funds in OECD countries and closer to home, by Temasek in Singapore. 

As what JP-ABAS and the state audit department recommended in JP-ABAS report on DEIG, the long-awaited restructuring exercise of MBI GLCs can still be done directly under MBI without the necessity of DEIG[3].  In fact, the current priority is to amend MBI Enactment 1994, which governs MBI, to ensure greater accountabiity of MBI to the public. The two major ammendments that should be made are: i. to give authority to the state auditor to audit MBI account and ii. to mandate the tabling of annual report of MBI to the state assembly so it can be debated. The current loose corporate governance of MBI and its GLC should be strengthened and when necessary, enacted in MBI enactment. 

The proponent of DEIG has likened DEIG to Temasek Holdings of Singapore as both are registered under company act. Nevertheless, DEIG current corporate governance structure is far from that of Temasek Holdings, resulting in JP-ABAS in our report written after conducting hearing with DEIG, stated that we are not convinced DEIG has strong accountability structure. 

All in all, if the state government insists to continue with DEIG, until and unless DEIG works on strengthening its corporate governance and MBI enactment is amended, DEIG will leave rooms for rent-seeking. This is also the reason why the select committee insisted that DEIG should not operate until the white paper on the corporate governance and accountability mechanism of DEIG is tabled, scrutinized, debated and passed in the state assembly.

The Selangor State Government must be open to constructive criticisms and continue to improve its accountability structure to prove itself to be a better custodian to people’s wealth than Barisan Nasional government. 

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[1] http://www.deig.com.my/company_profile_en.html

[2] http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/310681

[3] http://dewan.selangor.gov.my/assets/pdf/Penyata/Penyata-Sidang-2015/KERTAS%20BIL.%2048%20TAHUN%202015-JP%20ABAS_DEIG.pdf

杨美盈竞选民主行动党全国社青团总团长宣言

November 16, 2015, 10:57 pm

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在我们的人生中，有时做决定比任何事情都困难。 竞选社青团总团长不曾是我在党内外做任何一个工作的目标。 而且这次竞选激烈，我自认处于下风，有不少人劝我不要打这场硬战，免得被人批评看笑话，但我最后还是选择不退缩，努力迎战，因为我认为青年是改变国运的关键力量，而我党在接下来两年如何装备、赋权、强化和动员党内外青年是取得下届大选胜利的关键。

根据马来西亚统计局的数据，马来西亚有超过700万名青年介于21岁到35岁的人口，占马来西亚有资格选民人数的近一半 。青年不只是选票的大票仓，更是最佳的社运分子人选。美国总统奥巴马在2008年的“改变”竞选运动在一开始是处于下风，然而却凭着大量年轻人为他竞选，进而促成他的胜利。这就是年轻人的力量。美国青年给力奥巴马赢得总统一职，马来西亚青年也可以做到，让布城有更适合的新政府来领导国家。

 我今天宣布接受提名竞选总团长，不是为了社青团总团长之职位，而是希望我党能够更有效的释放青年能量来改变我们国家的未来。民主行动党社青团必须刻不容缓地破开我们传统青年工作的模式，我们必须有大胆的愿景，有计划和有团队，缺一不可。

有句话说，如果你要走得快，那就独自走；如果你要走得远，那就一起走。因此这次竞选总团长，我组成一支拥有同样愿景且多元的团队一起竞选，目的要是为行动党未来奠下年轻化及多元化的基础。

改变国运由改革行动党社青团开始 。以下是我们的4E愿景及目标：

接触年轻人(Engagement)

我们将增加行动党的青年活动以提高年轻人在党内的参与度。我们设定目标，以让每年有至少一万名青年通过行动党的不同平台接触行动党。我们也会加紧行动党在大学的互动，并且在各大专院校成立行动党校园俱乐部，让大专生能够进一步接触我们。

培训社青团 (Equip)

我们将会设立社青学堂，课程纲要包括行动党的理念和政策教学以及社区培训。此学堂将为全马的青年设立平台，让他们学习、交流以及交换想法并且一起工作。除此之外，我们也将继续出版社青团的中文团训《思想战线》以及英文政策特刊《Solution》。

赋权社青团 (Empowerment)

中间选民将是下届大选的关键社群，他们平时不会出席我们的群众大会，因此如何能够拉近与他们的关系将显得非常重要。因此，我们将放眼培训一千名社区竞选运动的年轻基层领袖。他们将能够随时在社区举办小型讲座、论坛以及用任何创意的方式如唱歌以深入地方社区比如咖啡店、公园等，有效地向公众传达我们的竞选宣言。如果我们要准备这样的“游击竞选”方式，我党青年领袖必须获得机会培训、组织、动员以及学习如何公众演说。

为此，我们将提供各种支援让各区团能够主办更多的活动。通过主办更多的活动，青年领袖将能累积更多组织和动员经验。此外，为了鼓励更多青年领袖辩论和公开演说，我们将会定期举办“行动党社青议会”，让不同的年轻党员聚集在行动党总部辩论时事政策。我们也将邀请党领袖出席聆听，以确保青年意见上情下达。

强化行政处 (Executive Support)

为了以上的目标可以有效进行，我们将强化社青团的行政处。“三军未动，粮草先行”，我们将展开适当的筹款活动以确保我们的抗争运动不会因为缺乏资金而停滞不前。同时我们也会致力有效地运用最少的资源，创造最大的效果。

青年占领未来

衷心希望我与我的团队能够得到各州代表们的委托，真正的实现4E愿景以巩固我党青年力量，一起占领国家的未来！

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#‎YouthsOccupyFuture‬  ‪#‎青年占领未来‬

Post DAPSY Election 社青团选后感言: 感恩再感恩

November 27, 2015, 6:19 pm

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我特别要感谢我的团队成员。尽管我们输了，我只想告诉你们，我们已经打了一场漂亮仗。这次竞选期间我们开始更了解对方，我相信我们建立的友谊将持续到我们日后其他的工作。言语无法表达我心中对你们每一个的友谊，支持和帮助的珍惜及感恩。

另外，我要感谢那些在这个这个旅程中帮助我的朋友。有些人每天给我发信息帮我加油，有些人请我吃饭，我还记得有其中一位在竞选期间在我最低落的时候请我吃肯德基，哇，那炸鸡的味道美味到好像天堂一样，哈哈！还有你们当中有些人恳切的为我祷告， 有一些比我更努力的帮我竟选！我输了后，你们的关心，鼓励对我不离不弃的举动也让我感动不已。

恕我的语言能力不好（不好意思，我工程系的，哈哈！）不能好好的表达我对你们的感恩。但是我只想让你们知道，每当我想起你们的每一份付出，鼓励及帮忙，都让我的心感到很温暖。人家说政治没朋友，但是希望我们的友谊能够持续－为梦想，为党，为国家，为下一代。

有了你们，我知道我以后的路不会孤单。谢谢，谢谢，谢谢，谢谢，谢谢 你们！哈哈！

p/s：抱歉不能早一些写这些因为改选后一忙就忙到现在。同志们，我们一起继续努力吧！

I am especially thankful to my team members. Despite our lost, I just wanna to tell you that we have fought a good fight. We have started to know each other more in this campaign period and I believe that the friendship we built will last beyond this election to our future works. Words cannot express how much I cherish each of your friendship, support and help. 

In addition, I want to thank all of you who during this journey become friends in need for me. Some of you send me many texts to encourage me; some of you belanja me eat nice meals, I still remember one of you belanja me eat KFC when I was very down during the campaign period, that chicken tasted like heaven, haha! Some of you prayed earnestly for me; some of you campaigned harder for me than I for myself.....there are just so many of you that have helped me along the way, and after I have lost, every one of you who has cared and encouraged me, I will forever remember that. 

Overall, I am just so grateful to each of you. With you, I know I am not alone. smile emoticon smile emoticon smile emoticon

Some important income statistics from Parliament

November 27, 2015, 6:28 pm

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Source: Malaysiakini 

PARLIAMENT: 

Bumiputera households make up the majority of the country's top 20 percent income earners (T20), but the community also sees the widest intra-group income disparity.

According to data from a parliamentary written reply, the bumiputera make up 53.81 percent of the T20 category, followed by Chinese at 37.05 percent, Indians at 8.80 percent and others at 0.34 percent.

However, when the comparison is made within the bumiputera group itself, T20 earners only comprise 16.34 percent.

The remaining comprises the middle 40 percent income earners (M40) at 38.96 percent and the bottom 40 percent income earners (B40) making up the majority at 44.7 percent.

This is in contrast with the Chinese and Indian communities, where the M40 group makes up the majority.

Within the Chinese community, the T20 group makes up 29.66 percent, followed by the M40 group at 42.32 percent and B40 at 28.02 percent.

As for the Indian community, the T40 group stands at 19.98 percent, followed by the M40 income earners at 41.31 percent and the B40 at 38.71 percent.

The T20 group is defined as having a median income of RM11,610 or a mean income of RM14,305.

The M40 group has median income of RM5,465 or mean income of RM5,662, while the B40 have a median income of RM2,629 and mean income of RM2,537.

Compared across ethnicity, the bumiputera also make up the majority of the M40 group at 64.17 percent.

Chinese make up the remaining 26.43 percent followed by Indians at 9.10 percent and others at 0.30 percent.

However, the bumiputera disproportionately make up the majority of the B40 group.

They make up 73.61 percent, followed by Chinese at 17.50 percent, Indians at 8.52 percent and others at 0.36 percent.

The data, from the household income and expenditure 2014 report, was furnished by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Wahid Omar in a written reply to Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin yesterday.

The rural-urban divide is also apparent in terms of the income they earn.

For rural households, the B40 group makes up the majority at 64.06 percent, the M40 group at 29.35 percent while the T20 group only makes up a meagre 6.59 percent.

In contrast, the middle class M40 makes up the majority at 43.19 percent, followed by the B40 at 32.79 percent while the T20 group is at 24.02 percent.

Interestingly, for the T20 earners, one in five of them, or 20.5 percent, identify themselves as government servants.

Of the remaining in the T20 group, 8.1 percent identify themselves as “employees”, 57.8 percent as private sector workers and 13.5 percent as self-employed.

For the M40 group, three percent identified themselves as employers, 17.3 percent as government servants, 59.2 percent as private sector employees and 20.5 percent as self-employed.

As for the B40 group, only 0.8 percent identified themselves as employers, 8.1 percent as government servants, 56.9 percent as private sector employees and 34.1 percent as self-employed.

Read more: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/321081#ixzz3skVsHLCW

UM should not punish the students for holding press conference

February 17, 2016, 2:37 am

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Six of these University of Malaya (UM) students were faced with disciplinary proceeding by the university 2 days ago (15 Feb) just because they hold a press conference to raise the issue of Internet quota in the university. It is inconceivable that such simple press conference could get them into hot water.

 

I wonder how UM as an institution of higher learning can encourage students to think critically in the search for knowledge if it can't even tolerate simple dissent like internet quota. No, this is not what a world class university, which UM aspires to be, would do. 

The time the university management takes to think of how to discourage dissents should be better spent on how to improve the R&D in the university, how to attract more good faculty members, how to equip the students with skills that are important to the job market etc etc. 
I sincerely hope that UM will decide not to punish the 6 students after the proceeding because punishing them will make UM a laughing stock in the world of academia and I still very much hope to take pride in the oldest university of our country.

By the way, 2 of the 6 students, Hananie and Suhail, participated in one of the young leadership (LEAP) camp our office organized. I am extremely proud of them. I can't say this enough - nothing is more dangerous to a country than ignorance and indifference of the young generation. So let the young people rise up and speak for their generation!

A nation built by foreigners, brick by brick

February 18, 2016, 8:22 pm

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Sharing with you here a good article about foreign workers in KINIBIZ

A Nation Built by Foreigners, Brick by Brick 

KINIBIZ As the Malaysian construction sector boomed over the past few years, with a 12-quarter run of double-digit year-on-year growth rates in terms of construction work value up to the third quarter of 2014, much of it had been on the sweating backs of foreign labourers.

A telling point is that the number of low-skilled foreign workers in Malaysia has increased by 152 percent between 2000 and 2013, according to a strategy paper that formed part of the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) that was tabled earlier last year.

Statistics can be deceptive. According to Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) data, the sector employs 9.5 percent of the Malaysian workforce, or 1.2 million registered workers in 2013. Of these, only a quarter of them are foreign workers, according to CIDB.

However, the figure encompasses a wide of range of functions in the construction sector, from architects and managers all the way down to general workers, the latter category making up 53 percent of total construction workforce.

And here is the crux of the matter: 93 percent of registered foreign workers in the construction sector are unskilled, according to CIDB.

This implies that an overwhelming majority of the general workers on site – bricklayers, roof-tilers and the like – are foreigners, building our national infrastructure, houses and schools, brick by brick, on relatively minimal wages.

And as the construction sector looks set to continue growing – the Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM) expects an 8.4 percent growth next year – this undue reliance on foreigners to drive a cornerstone sector does not look like it will change anytime soon.

Unrealistic goals?

Against this context, the government’s goal of capping foreign labour to 15 percent of the total national workforce across all sectors by 2020 may seem ambitious, considering the current share is at 17 percent as of 2013.

Worse, the government estimates this percentage to be as high as 27 percent if illegal immigrant workers are taken into account, it said in the 11MP strategy paper. A fifth of an estimated two million registered foreign workers are in construction – and the roots of heavy reliance on cheap foreign labour have taken a strong hold.

The 6P amnesty programme seemed to have been designed to wean off businesses from this reliance by getting these foreign workers to prepare for life after they go home.

However, that has not been the case. The construction sector, in particular, is reluctant to move into a less labour-intensive modus operandi, citing a high cost barrier, despite the precariousness of continuing to rely on cheap foreign labour with what seemed to be a ticking clock to a mass exodus.

This means the construction – and by extension property development – is far from ready to face a mass departure of foreign workers, Real Estate and Housing Development Association (Rehda) president Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor told KINIBIZ earlier last year.

“(Such a scenario) will adversely affect the construction sector as well as the property sector,” said Fateh Iskandar, more commonly known as FD Iskandar, in a previous interview with KINIBIZ. “And it’s going to be very likely that these huge infrastructure projects (such as mass rapid transit and light rail transit extensions) will also be compromised.”

As things stand, not renewing permits issued to registered and legalised illegals under the 6P amnesty programme doesn’t make sense, Fateh Iskandar added, because labour is still needed and this will only lead to rerecruitment, which wastes resources and time to retrain fresh recruits.

“When they come here, most of them are farmers, unskilled. We train them and after five, six years, they become bar benders, they become tilers, they become roof tilers and whatnot,” said Fateh Iskandar. “Then, after that you ask us to send them back? Then they go to Singapore, they go to Dubai. What are we, a training ground?”

Unglamorous jobs

This is exacerbated by the reluctance of Malaysians to take up employment in the construction sector. Various industry players said the main issues here are working conditions and negative perceptions towards manual labour on site, which entails long hours of physical exertion under the sun with associated workplace safety risks.

“Locals often have negative perceptions of the industry and perceive it as a challenging industry to work in, with limited career progression,” said CIDB in its Construction Industry Transformation Programme 2016-2020 (CITP) master plan. “This has resulted in relative reluctance among locals to work in the industry, especially, in the wet trades (ie bricklaying and plastering).”

It is a vicious cycle. The reluctance of locals to take up jobs in the sector causes construction players to turn to cheap foreign labour, many of whom have little to no skill. According to CIDB, 93 percent of the registered foreign labourers in the sector are either low-skilled or unskilled.

In turn, this depresses salary levels, which further deter locals from stepping in. “The low wages of foreign labour reflect their low skill levels,” said CIDB.

According to MBAM in an interview with KINIBIZ earlier this year, unskilled workers stand to make a minimum salary of RM1,200 per month and up to several thousand ringgit with higher skill levels.

While corresponding with the minimum wage level for West Malaysia before the Budget 2016 increase, this falls short of the median household income of RM4,256 per month in 2014.

Additionally, working demands of the construction sector, which involve regular movement from location to location after a development project is completed, also deters locals, who usually want to stay near their families, industry players told KINIBIZ.

In contrast, foreign labourers are more flexible in terms of location and movement, even willing to stay in crowded, makeshift accommodation on or near the construction site using portable toilets and water tanks for water supply.

Far from their families and desperate for more income, foreign workers are also more keen to work overtime during weekends and public holidays, in contrast to locals who would want to spend such times with their families, said industry players.

Low productivity

In the larger context, the reliance on foreign labourers has depressed productivity levels for the construction sector, which are far lower relative to that of other sectors in Malaysia, according to CIDB.

“Global benchmarks also indicate that Malaysia’s construction sector is at the lower end of the productivity spectrum,” said CIDB in the CITP document. “The relatively low productivity is a reflection of limited modernisation of construction methods and practices as well as the reliance on low-skilled labour.”

This consideration, alongside the consideration that Malaysians aren’t likely to start chasing jobs in the construction sector anytime soon, necessitates a sector-wide shift towards automation, especially since the CITP framework aims to boost sector productivity by 2.5 times by 2020.

The Industrialised Building System (IBS), also known as pre-fabricated construction, seems the logical answer. Its benefits are aplenty, though so are the hurdles towards its adoption across the board.

The most obvious benefit is speed, as IBS can reduce construction time by about a third up to one-half, experts said.

China, for example, has provided several shining (and viral) examples of how IBS can significantly get buildings up much faster – among others, in 2010 the nation saw a six-storey building called Broad Pavilion completed in one day. In December the year after, the city of Changsha saw a 30-storey hotel erected in two weeks, surprising even IBS experts.

This was made possible as different components for various stages of construction could be manufactured simultaneously, meaning they only needed to be assembled on site. In comparison, a traditional labour-intensive construction requires each phase to be completed before work can begin on the next.

Another benefit is higher quality of construction, given that construction components are manufactured in a controlled environment as opposed to being put together manually on site.

The quality shows. According to CIDB senior general manager for the development sector Ahmad ’Asri Abdul Hamid, developers who use IBS score higher on CIDB’s Quality Assessment System in Construction (Qlassic) assessment system.

Qlassic was introduced by CIDB to measure and evaluate the workmanship quality of a building construction work based on Construction Industry Standard (CIS 7:2006).

“Overall, costs are cheaper through IBS because the completion is a lot faster and the owner is able to use the building faster, maybe in six months instead of one year,” Ahmad ’Asri told KINIBIZ in a previous interview.

“There are also cost savings on wastage because we have a lot of wastage on site now. If you go to Japan, 90 percent of construction materials are recycled but here it is cheaper to throw them away,” Ahmad ‘Asri added. “We don’t have the infrastructure yet to recycle all construction waste, only some.”

Hurdles to IBS

However, the adoption of IBS in the construction sector faces several hurdles, which ultimately boil down to cost considerations and industry preparedness.

It is not that the sector does not see where its interest lies in the long-term vis-a-vis cheap foreign labour. According to CIDB’s Ahmad ’Asri, sector players know that IBS is beneficial and that it is where the sector should move towards in the long run.

“(But) as long as you have cheap foreign workers, you cannot move towards IBS,” Ahmad ’Asri told KINIBIZ. “Eventually for companies, it is about economies of scale.”

At the heart of the matter, the availability of cheap foreign labour means that construction players remain reluctant to move towards IBS, which increases their operating costs and, ultimately, hurts their competitiveness relative to peers.

“Labour cost is cheaper than using pre-cast, so would people go for pre-cast? The cost of using IBS would be more expensive,” said MBAM vice-president Chuan Yeong Ming to KINIBIZ, adding the cost increase may be as much as 30 percent in some cases.

This presents the biggest obstacle towards engineering a construction sector shift from being labour-intensive towards being more machinery-based, in line with the national economic agenda outlined in the 11MP, which aims to boost productivity as well as emphasise knowledge-based and high-skilled employment.

Another related hurdle is the need to pay a huge upfront deposit to IBS manufacturers, which may hurt cash flow for construction players, said CIDB. Costs for importing machinery are also high, given the existing import duty rates, which MBAM has been asking to be lowered for years, without much success.

Other challenges include a lack of readiness among industry service providers to fully immerse themselves in an IBS-driven environment, according to CIDB.

However, these challenges are surmountable, though it requires concerted government effort on the federal level. In the next article, KINIBIZ delves into the hows of this.

Reference: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/330961#ixzz40aHlhKVr

Review JPA's 'convertible loan' scholarship policy

February 29, 2016, 5:19 pm

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Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman for Damansara Utama on Saturday 27 February 2016.

We call upon Putrajaya to review JPA’s unjustifiable “convertible-loan” scholarship policy immediately.

Recently JPA has dropped another bombshell on its scholarship offer, of which all the scholarships it offers from 2016 will be in the form of convertible loan[1]. Upon completion of their studies, JPA scholars are mandated to work in public sector. If they choose to work in government-linked-companies (GLCs) or private sector, they will have to pay back 50% or 100% of the scholarship amount respectively.

Such policy is actually not an entirely new concept. Many JPA or govenrment scholars in the past have been made to sign the contracts that necessitate them to work in public sector if they are offered a job within a period of time after their study, failing which they are required to pay back the scholarship amount. In any case, the recently announced JPA “convertible loan” policy is unjustifiable and should be reviewed immediately.

Firstly, it is mind-boggling to see that another government agency, Talent Corp, is doing the reverse. Its Scholarship Talent Attraction and Retention (STAR) program helps government scholars to serve their scholarship bond with leading private sector companies (instead of public sector) “as a way of contributing back to the nation.”[2]According to Talent Corp website, there are a total of 1,681 STAR private/GLC employers[3].  Why on one hand, JPA makes it compulsory for the scholars to serve their bond in public sector and on another hand Talent Corp helps them to “escape” from it by connecting them to jobs in GLCs and private sector? Why the double work? Why wasting tax payers monies for Talent Corp to run STAR when what JPA can do is to allow the scholars to serve their bonds anywhere in Malaysia? 

Secondly, the terms and conditions of the “convertible loan” is unjustifiable as it may lead to using tax-payers monies to reward under-performers. Under such policy, a student with CGPA 2.8, who can’t get a job in private sector but can only wait for public sector job, can get the scholarship for free, while a highly competent student with CGPA 3.8, who is hired by a multi-national company through many rounds of competitive interviews, will be forced to pay back the scholarship amount in full.  If “convertible loan” is unavoidable, then the payback amount must be performance-based (academic and non-academic) and not based on in which sphere the scholars choose to work– public sector, GLCs or private sector, as long as they are in Malaysia.

Thirdly, I believe that this policy that forces all the top brains to work for the government does not best serve our national economic agenda. I believe that the role of private sector is equally if not more important than the public sector in driving the nation’s economy. To move out from the middle-income trap, Malaysia economy needs to change quickly to knowledge-intensive and innovation-led economy. This is impossible when we have a major scholarship policy that penalizes our top brains for getting involved in private sector and entreprenurial venture. Under such system, we may force a talented JPA scholar, who has just done a ground-breaking research that can be commercialized through highly potential start-up, to pay back its scholarship because he/she starts a business instead of working for the government! This is completely illogical. 

In order for Malaysia to be competitive in the international arena, we urgently need to manage our talents better. With that, we call upon Putrajaya to review its unjustifiable JPA scholarship policy to ensure that Malaysian talents are given the opportunities to reach their full potentials on this land in order to best serve our country.  

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[1] http://esilav2.jpa.gov.my/esila_new/index.php

[2] http://talentcorpbucket.s3-website-ap-southeast-1.amazonaws.com/assets/productms/pdf/Brochure_STAR.pdf

[3]https://star.talentcorp.com.my/employer/search?so%5Bcol%5D=-join&pg%5Boffset%5D=20

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DAP Wanita Selangor Media Statement: Quality, Affordable and Safe Childcare Services

March 8, 2016, 9:52 pm

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Media Statement by Hannah Yeoh and Yeo Bee Yin, DAP Wanita Selangor Chairwoman and Organizing Secretary on behalf of DAP Wanita Selangor on Tuesday 8 March in Petaling Jaya.  

On this International Women’s Day, DAP Wanita Selangor urges the Selangor State Government to take the lead and set an example in empowering women by providing and promoting quality, affordable and safe childcare services.

Today, for many women, juggling domestic responsibilities and career aspirations is a reality they have to contend with on a day-to-day basis. It is commonly acknowledged that one of the main reasons women leave the workforce is due to childbirth. This reveals that the responsibility of childcare still lies largely on the shoulders of women. In many instances, the increasingly high costs of childcare in Malaysia forces one parent (usually the mother) to stay home to care for the child.

In a recent study done by the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Selangor is reported to have one of the highest percentages of women in the workforce, behind Penang and Kuala Lumpur.

Indeed, Selangor has made progress in the past 7 years in promoting women welfare. In the Selangor state legislative assembly, women make up of 15 out 56 (26%) of the state legislators (ADUN) compared to a mere 10% in Parliament. As for the DAP, 5 out of 15 (33%) of our Selangor elected representatives are women.

Selangor is one of the first states to offer 90-days maternity leave. 10 out of 42 Selangor state government buildings are equipped with nursery/pre-school facilities. In addition, the Selangor state government also provides childcare subsidies to low-income families (household income below RM2500): (i) Skim Bantuan Tadika Selangor (TUNAS) that provides a RM50/month subsidy for children aged 4 to 6 attending pre-school; and (ii) Skim Bantuan Asuhan Rakyat (Si Kembar)  that provide as RM50/month nursery subsidy for children below 4 years of age.

Such achievements should be applauded. Nevertheless, as the most developed state in Malaysia, we believe there is still room for improving women’s welfare in Selangor especially in the area of childcare. While we understand that childcare is supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the federal government, we believe that we should not wait for things to happen at the federal level, and that we should be more proactive and forward-thinking.

Therefore, on this International Women's Day, DAP Wanita Selangor urges the Selangor State Government to take the lead and set an example in empowering women by providing and promoting quality, affordable and safe childcare. Initiatives should be introduced to encourage the growth of the female workforce in Selangor such as:

i.  Ensuring all buildings belonging to  the Selangor state government are equipped with childcare and pre-school facilities as per our 13th General Election Manifesto; 

ii. Providing a specific allocation in the annual State Budget for the creation of more childcare facilities in low-cost areas; and

iii. Ensuring upcoming Rumah Selangorku developments have space earmarked for childcare facilities.

It is time that mothers who aspire to work be given some tangible support such as affordable and safe childcare, starting with the civil servants working for the State Government. DAP Wanita Selangor looks forward to a more women-friendly workplace in Selangor to harness the best the women workforce can offer in the state's economy.

Malaysia must recover from Dutch Disease before it kills us.

March 12, 2016, 1:02 am

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Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman for Damansara Utama on Friday 11 March 2016 in Petaling Jaya.

I read with great concern Petronas’ press statement dated 29 February 2016, where it announced that the profit-after-tax recorded by the national oil company in 2015 is RM21 billion[i], which was 56% lower than the year 2014. The drop in profit for Petronas was not unexpected as we have seen crude oil prices falling by 75% in the past 18 months; from USD 110 per barrel to its lowest record since 2003 at USD 27 per barrel, and before it rises again and hovers at USD 35 per barrel.

What concerns me is the fact that with such poor earnings, Petronas may need to tap into its reserve to meet its 2016 RM 16 billion dividend commitment to Putrajaya[ii]. It should be noted that even at the height of 2008's economic crisis and its aftermath, Petronas' dividend paid to Putrajaya was still lower than what it earned, with dividend payout at 39.3% in 2008, 57.1% in 2009 and 74.4% in 2010.

Since Najib took the helm of the country in 2009, he has been enjoying the good years of high oil price. His government has collected a total of RM426 billion from 2009 to 2014 from Petronas in the form of dividend, taxes, cash and export duties (breakdown is shown as table below) to a total of RM 74 billion in 2009, RM 57.6 billion in 2010, RM 65.7 billion in 2011, RM 80 billion in 2012, RM 73.4 billion in 2013 and RM 75.3 billion in 2014.

Year	Dividend	Taxes	Cash	Exports Duty	Annual Contribution
2009	30	29.4	12.4	2.2	74
2010	30	18.7	8.3	0.6	57.6
2011	30	25.1	9.3	1.3	65.7
2012	28	38.3	12.5	1.2	80
2013	27	33.3	12	1.1	73.4
2014	29	32.5	12.6	1.2	75.3
Total	174	177.3	67.1	7.6	426

* all in RM billion.

** Reference: Petronas Annual Reports 2011[iii]and 2014[iv].

Although he has only been Prime Minister for a mere 15% of Petronas' 42 year-long establishment, his government has collected around 50% of Petronas' cumulative contribution to Putrajaya since its inception in 1974 until 2014 of RM881 billion. However, how have these oil contributions translated into tangible benefits to the people on the street? What we see now is a bloated budget at Putrajaya while Malaysians are suffering from heavier tax and massive subsidy cuts across the board!

With crude oil prices likely to stay low for a period of time as predicted by economists around the world, Petronas may need to continue to tap into its reserve to pay dividend to Putrajaya to sustain its bloated budget if nothing is done.

What worries me more was how will Malaysia fare if an economic crisis hit now? In 2008, the economic crash was accompanied by the surge in oil price, of which Petronas benefited with increased profit. Therefore, it was able to help in cushioning the country’s economy in the midst of economic shock. Unfortunately, the situation is not as such now. Malaysia will most likely face the looming economic crisis at low oil prices. If so, how much help can Petronas afford before it becomes unsustainable itself?

It is crucial for Putrajaya to be prepared to face pro-long period of low oil prices and an economic crisis. It must run a much lean government to to avoid killing the goose that lays the golden eggs for our country to persevere the interests of our next generation.

This period of low crude oil prices should serve as a timely wake-up call for Putrajaya and our country to move beyond oil economy. Malaysia must recover from Dutch Disease before it kills us as a nation.

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[i] http://www.petronas.com.my/media-relations/media-releases/Pages/article/PETRONAS-PERSEVERES-THROUGH-A-DIFFICULT-2015,-.aspx

[ii]https://www.energyvoice.com/other-news/102847/petronas-to-tap-into-reserves-to-meet-2016-dividend/

[iii] http://www.petronas.com.my/investor-relations/Documents/annual-report/AnnualReport_FinancialStatement_2011.pdf

[iv] http://www.petronas.com.my/investor-relations/Documents/Annual%20Report%202014.pdf

Free Malaysia Today Special Report: Real change means working on the impossible

March 18, 2016, 8:25 pm

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KUALA LUMPUR: Anyone meeting Damansara Utama assemblywoman Yeo Bee Yin for the first time, would be struck by the strong sense of work ethic that the 33-year-old politician exudes.

This may be in part due to the pragmatism traditionally associated with the engineering profession, which she trained in extensively prior to her entry into politics.

“I am not a natural politician. I was an engineer; I was never really into politics. So the only thought I had when I was asked to join the political scene was that I wanted to make a change in this country,” Yeo said in an interview with FMT last Friday.

A quick look at the Wikipedia page of DAP’s social media strategist, shows she has a First Class Honours degree in Chemical Engineering from Universiti Teknologi Petronas, and a Masters in Philosophy in Advanced Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University under a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which she completed with a commendation.

Politics and change

“Political change is important at this historical juncture. Macro environmental change is important, as is policy change. Which was why I decided to join politics,” said Yeo.

“I saw how politics changes things – can change things, can potentially change,” she corrected herself quickly.

“I will say that there is a lot of frustration at the moment, with how there are things that cannot be changed even if one is in power, like in Selangor. But I think that politics as a whole can be a place where people can change things.”

Yeo added that Malaysians wanting tangible change to take place in the country should walk the talk and work on it, instead of only complaining about things.

“A lot of people think that we cannot change. They think things cannot change. From experience, things can change as long as somebody is willing to work on the impossible,” Yeo said.

“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood,” she said, and quoted Theodore Roosevelt: “Who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds.”

Yeo admitted that it was not easy to dispel the perception of deception traditionally associated with politics. However, she said that the only way to change perceptions was through hard work.

Impian Malaysia and Impian Sarawak

Talking of her work with the DAP programme Impian Malaysia and its sub-project, Impian Sarawak, Yeo commented that there were more people complaining about things than those actually helping.

“What’s happening right now is that there are too many people complaining about things. People complain and say that the DAP needs to go to Sarawak. But whenever people tell me, ‘YB, you should go to Sarawak’, I say: ‘Why don’t you come with me?’ Their faces change,” Yeo said.

“We still lack people who do the real work. I think we need a new generation of people who like to get their hands dirty and try and strive for the better.”

She spoke of how she got involved in Impian Sarawak, saying it started after DAP’s previous political loss and her subsequent feelings of frustration that the people of Sarawak were still voting for Barisan Nasional.

Her frustrations however were channelled into more positive things like visiting Kampung Sait to see how she could help them, a poignant visit that led to her participating in the Impian Sarawak project.

“Kampung Sait was an eye-opening time for me. We needed to walk for two hours to get to the kampung, because there was no road, electricity and running water. I went there and realised: These are Malaysians too. There is no justice for these people.

“The first time I went, Impian hadn’t started yet, They asked me, ‘YB, we want to build a gravity water feed system. Can you help us with that?'”

Yeo was initially cautious about promising the villagers anything, given that she did not have the money at the time and that her allocation for Selangor could not be used in Sarawak.

“I only said that I would let them know, because for them, promises from politicians again and again have come short. I did not want to promise or guarantee them anything. And given that I am young and a female, I don’t think that they had high expectations of me to deliver anything,” she added, laughing.

“We didn’t have money when we started the whole thing. We needed to raise funds and get volunteers. That’s how we started our first Impian Sarawak project. We put in funds first, then raised the rest from the public.”

There was initial resistance to the idea, as people thought it would be impossible to raise funds for such a far-flung project that carried no profit. Many were also sceptical of her idea that volunteers of the programme pay their own way when working with the villagers.

“And I remember being ridiculed by people who said that it was impossible to raise funds. They said that there would be nobody stupid enough to volunteer and pay for themselves to do hard work,” Yeo said.

Efforts quickly proved detractors wrong, however, as she managed to raise RM280,000 from her constituents, far exceeding the project cost of RM20,000.

The people of Petaling Jaya were the first to contribute to the Impian Sarawak programme, donating online and holding fundraising dinners.

“One thing that really touched me was that I remember when we opened up for volunteers to sign up, people said, ‘I will be very impressed if 50 people sign up’,” she recounted.

“In a week or two, 200 people signed up. That’s how Malaysians actually care. They care enough to want to do this. What I think we don’t have, is the platform.

“Things can change as long as somebody is willing to work on the impossibility. Even if you know you might fail, working on it creates the possibility that things may change.”

Link: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/03/15/real-change-means-working-on-the-impossible/

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"Jangan Salahkan Mangsa" Anti-Rape Campaign

July 4, 2016, 2:12 am

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KUALA LUMPUR, 28^thJune 2016 – Yeo Bee Yin, of Pusat Khidmat ADUN Damansara Utama, in conjunction with All Women’s Action Society (AWAM), kicked off their second collaboration centered on anti-rape awareness today. The launch of the new website, antirogol.com, aims to educate and provide survivors and the general public with basic information and resources on rape and sexual violence such as what constitutes rape, information on the laws pertaining to rape in Malaysia and possible steps that survivors could take if rape takes place and other avenues where survivors can seek help.  

On average, 3000 rape cases are reported every year in Malaysia. Over 60% of these cases involved children below eighteen years old. This breaks down to a woman or a child being raped every three hours. More disturbing and important to note is that only two out of ten rape cases are estimated to be reported, which means that the overall number of cases occurring per year would be much higher.

Despite these rising numbers and the urgent need to address this issue, the toxic belief that victims are partly or fully responsible for their own violations continues to permeate. Questions ranging from "What were they wearing?""Were they drunk?" to "But she didn't say no" points to society's lack of understanding and deep-seated need to rationalise that these senseless violence are somehow deserved and only happen to "the unlucky few", while sidelining the perpetrator's part from the conversation. Anyone can be a target of rape, regardless of gender, location, age, clothing, and more. Rape is never the victim's fault.

This over-arching culture of victim blaming -- experienced by survivors from family members and friends to institutions such as police officials, healthcare providers and in court proceedings -- make it extremely difficult for survivors to seek the help that they need and might play a factor as to why some might choose not to report or couldn't report their rape. In such occurences, measures beyond the justice system such as counselling might prove more effective in facilitating the healing process for survivors.

It's clear that there needs to be a complete systemic overhaul and individual shift in attitude in regards to rape and sexual violence in Malaysia if we were to ever address this societal ill. Effective and early implementation of awareness programs and preventative education is a critical step in ensuring the elimination of long-held prejudices and beliefs about the issue of rape.

Through this joint campaign, Pusat Khidmat ADUN Damansara Utama and AWAM are determined to raise awareness on the issue of rape in Malaysia and to provide survivors with resources that they might need. However, it is only one step of many and a lot more work needs to be done in order to create a society that respects everyone’s bodies, rights and dignity.

Firearms Incidents: Border Security Agency

July 30, 2016, 8:09 pm

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Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman for Damansara Utama on Thurday 28 July 2016 in Petaling Jaya.

The rampant cases of firearm incidents have shown that the newly set-up Border Security Agency under Home Ministry must buck-up to ensure safety and security of all Malaysians. 

Malaysia is no longer safe. We have heard of many shooting incidents since the beginning of the year, many of which happened in broad daylight. Within this month (July 2016) alone, Malaysians have been shocked by at least six firearm incidents[1]. Many were heartless incidents that send shivers down the spine of everyone who lives and works in Malaysia. In the beginning of the month, 32-year old property agent, Wong Siu Ling was shot dead by two gunmen with five shots in Taman OUG, KL. Her daughter, who was sitting at the passenger seat, was seriously injured by the gunshots targeted at her mother. She is only 8 years old! Then in mid-July, drug addict, Chung Chun Wah shot dead his own mother, brother and two-year-old nephew and his mother’s partner with an unlicensed gun in a chicken factory in Penang. Yesterday, we heard yet another case – a moneylender was shot dead at a traffic light junction in Setapak.

Life seems to be cheap nowadays. Sin Chew Daily reported that the “black market price” for a pistol is as low as RM2,000 with RM2 for each bullet. Yes, bullet is cheaper than nasi kandar now! More shockingly, the report also stated that a hitman can be hired at as low as RM5,000. We can roughly confirm the range of hitman's “market price” from the testimony of the hitman who killed Wong Siu Ling when he said that he has not received his pay of RM10,000 from the hirer.

According to the deputy Home Minister, Nur Jazlan, the firearms used in all the cases of shooting incidents were smuggled into the country and unlicensed[2]. Malaysian law imposes death penalty to firearm smuggling, yet we see illegal firearms used in all the shooting cases! This is indeed a mockery to Putrajaya! What has the home ministry been doing in curbing smuggling? Of the 646km of Malaysia-Thailand border, only 111km is fenced. In fact, there is no need for statistics; one just has to cross the Malaysia-Thailand border to know how porous our border is.

Hence, we would like to question the Home Minister, Zahid Hamidi whether the Border Security Agency, which was set-up by Home Ministry in November 2015 under his leadership[3], has failed to achieved its purpose in curbing smuggling.  This was supposed to be an upgrade of the original Smuggling Prevention Unit (UPP) with only 909 officials to an agency with 10,000 officials, which comprises of officials from the armed forces, the general operation force of the police and the UPP. In addition, the home minister has also announced that there will be better hardware to strengthen our border with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and drones.

With a new agency of 10,000 officials and more sophisticated hardware, why are shooting cases with illegal firearms more rampant now than ever? After more than half a year of the inception of Border Security Agency, why does it seem that it is getting easier to get firearms?

With that, we call upon the Home Minister to explain to all Malaysians what Putrajaya will do in order to improve Border Security Agency to strengthen our border control and how is the Home Ministry going to solve the rising shooting cases.

We would like to remind Putrajaya that the lives of Malaysians are worth much more the “market price” of bullet, gun and hitman. The Home Ministry must buck-up to ensure safety and security of all Malaysians. 

[1] http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/shooting-cases-in-2016-a-chronology

[2] http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/07/17/nur-jazlan-smuggled-guns-used-in-shooting-incidents/

[3]http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/government-introduces-new-border-security-agency-to-curb-smuggling

Youth Mainstreaming: Economic Perspective

September 4, 2016, 7:36 pm

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From my Official Facebook Post (13 Aug 2016): 

Last weekend DAPSY (DAP Socialist Youth) had a successful political education summit. 

DAPSY National Executive Committee

I wasn't able to join them due to commitment at constituency. However, I made a short trip to attend the meeting of DAPSY National Committee and to join my comrades (Rajiv, Nurman, Bryan and Yoke Kong) to speak in one of the forums: Youth Mainstreaming: The technical perspective & Economic Case. 

Panel of the Forum 

Here is a short note of what I shared:

1. Malaysia is in a period which we should take advantage of "demographic dividend" - people coming to workforce is more than those who retire. In normal (or even not too bad circumstances), the economy will expand due to demographic change. But are we taking full advantage of this window of opportunity? Or will we let this generation pass without making a signifcant breakthrough? 

Showing the Demography Chart 

2. The youths today are facing problem with low and even more depressing, stagnant salary growth. According to the Edge, (from the extrapolation of statistics from the EPF), average wage grew only 3.9% per year over the last 4 years, well below 6-7% during 2000-2008. With increasing inflationary pressure, the real wage is in fact declining. (I didn't have time to talk about how low wages in Malaysia also coupled with high cost of living especially on mobility, i.e transport and public transport, which we could do so much better and cheaper. This leads to very low saving rate among average working youths, which in turn hinder wealth accumulation. Without intervention, the wealth inequality will increase among the haves and the have-nots for this generation.)

Explaining Labour Productivity 

3. Salary growth needs to come from productivity growth otherwise we'll lose out our businesses/capitals to global economy (business may invest elsewhere where labour cost is cheaper). However, the ratio of quantity and quality labour input to GDP has not changed since 2006 at 89:11. (We have not been able to improve labour quality). 

4. To improve productivity, we need effective microeconomic policies to create a business environment that rewards enterprise, innovation, technology and skill training. We also need to provide resources needed for firms to identify business opportunities and take advantage of them. In addition, we need macroeconomic stability, sound institutional arrangements and good infrastructure to provide the core where individuals and firms can plan and invest.

5. For Malaysian youths specifically, youth unemployment is higher than national average ~10% vs <4 1="" 3="" 4="" 6="" a="" after="" among="" and="" are="" as="" assembly="" at="" big="" bigger="" can="" commitment="" development="" does="" employability.="" employability="" english="" federal="" first="" focus="" for="" fruits="" government="" graduate="" graduates="" graduation.="" have="" i="" improve="" in="" intensive="" is="" it="" job="" level.="" low-hanging="" main="" mismatch="" mistmatch="" months="" much="" nbsp="" needs="" not="" on="" our="" p="" problem="" raised="" reason="" reasons:="" requires="" s="" scale="" selangor="" shown="" skills.="" skills="" soft-skills="" state="" studies="" that="" the="" to="" training="" unemployment="" which="" worrying="">4>

6. In addition, we need to note that only 30% of the labour force in Malaysia have tertiary education, more than 50% only have secondary school education. To increase the salary of average young Malaysians, governments need to increase upskill trainings or incentivize firms to do so. For example, the Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) runs the German Dual Vocational Training (GDVT) Programme in Mechatronics, which is designed to upskill the existing technical workforce and school leavers with international-level skills and competencies. We need to develop our vocational and non-academic education in a more sophisticated manner. Federal and state governments have different programs for upskill and vocational training but a more coordinated action is needed with strategic goal in mind. (Now it's like all over the place.) 

7. I ended my speech by sharing my concern with the young comrades that Malaysia may lose out to Vietnam in 10 years. Vietnam students continuously outscored Malaysia students in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment of 15 year-old students for science, maths and reading. In the latest result, Vietnam achieved 12th in the overall ranking based on maths and science while Malaysia tail behind at 52 out of 76 participating countries. While international media is running the news of our country biggest corruption scandal of 1MDB, the latest issue of The Economist ran news on Vietnam rising economy.

1. http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21703368-vietnams-success-merits-closer-look-other-asian-tiger

2. http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21703376-having-attained-middle-income-status-vietnam-aims-higher-good-afternoon-vietnam

8. Where to Malaysian youths? Act quickly, work hard, both poltiically, economically and professionally, or we'll lose out. "Lost generation" shall not describe us, buck up guys! 

Putrajaya should abort the plan that enables property developers to become the loan sharks to home buyers.

September 9, 2016, 8:29 am

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Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman for Damansara Utama on Friday 9 September 2016 in Petaling Jaya.

Putrajaya should abort the proposed plan that enables property developers to become the loan sharks to home buyers.

I read with great concern the announcement by the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry that there will be an initiative from Putrajaya that allows property developers to give out loans to home buyers at interest rate as high as 12 to 18%[i]. More worryingly, under such scheme the developers have the autonomy to decide who to give the loan to and not only restricted to the first home buyers. The minister Tan Sri Noh Omar said that such initiative is a win-win situation for both the developers and home buyers. I beg to differ. I believe that this will only create “win” to the developers but leave the home buyers unnecessarily and heavily in debt.

Firstly, the proposed new scheme will cause artificial property price hike that does not reflect the real economic growth, similar to the effects brought by Developer Interest Bearing Scheme (DIBS), which was abolished in 2014. The newly mooted scheme enables the developers to loan to the buyers who can’t afford to buy in conventional way. The third (or more) house buyers, who can only obtain 70% loan or less from the banks, will now be able to get additional loans from the developers. The influx of easy loan from the property developers will enable them to sell their properties at artificially high price. Easy loan couples with artificial high price will in turn encourage speculative behavior, pushing the property price even higher and making housing even more unaffordable.

Khazanah in its report “Making Housing Affordable” reported that together with multi-generational loan of 45 years, DIBS inflated property prices by as much as 30%[ii]. The House Price Index (HPI) of the National Property Information Center (NAPIC) has shown clearly that while Malaysian all-house price grew steadily at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.1% between 2000 to 2009, the CAGR of HPI during DIBS implementation (2009 to 2014) was as high as 10.1%. Comparatively, the economy grew at only half the growth rate of housing price in this period of property boom. As a cooling measure, the government abolished DIBS in 2014. However, why now Putrajaya introduces another scheme that will fuel another round of unhealthy artificial price hike?

Secondly, the interest rates that can be charged by the developers, 18% without collateral and 12% with collateral, are simply too exorbitant. Is Putrajaya trying to make the developers to be the “loan sharks” to the home buyers? The Bank Negara Malaysia decision to tighten the loan approval requirement for banks according to debt-to-income ratio is to ensure that Malaysian household debts are at controllable level as our household debts have already reached record high with the total household debt to gross domestic product ratio of 89.1%. According to Khazanah report “The State of Household II”, only 10.8% the households in Malaysia were resilient to financial shocks such as unemployment, injury, death, divorce and changes in interest rates and more than a fifth of those would not be able to sustain for more than 3 months after their incomes were cut off. Allowing developers to loan to home buyers, especially at such high interest rates, will only further exacerbate Malaysian household debts problems, making households even more vulnerable to economic shocks.  

All in all, does the new scheme really help ordinary home buyers? No, allowing buyers to borrow more is not the solution to unaffordable housing as the home buyers will still need to take up loans to buy houses that they can’t afford. Perhaps the real intention of the scheme is to help the developers to clear their unsold units? (It was reported that there is an increase of 16% of unsold units in the first quarter of 2016 with 18,908 out of the 81,894 residential and commercial units launched remained unsold.)

The proposed new scheme will enrich the property developers at the expense of the ordinary home buyers in long term. It enables developers to sell their properties at higher price (or to clear their stagnant housing stocks) and opens up another channel of income for them through financing the purchase of their own products, while the ordinary Malaysians need to take up huge debt burden with unfavorable interest rates. With such system, the Barisan Nasional government has become the government only for the top 1 percent of the economic pyramid.   

Affordable housing is a structural issue caused by unresponsive housing sector to market demand. It is unsustainable to fuel housing growth with debts, especially debts at high interest rates, and speculations. This is a slippery road that we should never take.

With that, we call upon Putrajaya to abort the proposed new scheme that allows property developers to become the loan sharks to home buyers. Lastly, I sincerely hope that the minister will take some time to read Khazanah’s report “Making Housing Affordable”, which has proposed much more sensible policy recommendations than this to enable more Malaysians to own a house at a price affordable to them. 

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[i]http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/putrajaya-allows-developers-to-give-housing-loans

[ii]http://www.rehdaselangor.com/images/news-clippings/2015/Khazanah%20Report%20-Making%20Housing%20Affordable.pdf

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Noh Omar should eat humble pie and ditch his developers-moneylenders plan.

September 16, 2016, 9:16 pm

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Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman of Damansara Utama on Saturday 17 September 2016 in Petaling Jaya.

Noh Omar should now eat humble pie and ditch his developers-moneylenders plan.

On 8 September, we were shocked by the announcement made by Tan Sri Noh Omar on his ministry’s plan to allow property developers to give out loans to homebuyers at interest rate as high as 12 to 18%[i].  Since the announcement, except for the former Menteri Besar of Selangor Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, [ii]his idea doesn’t seem to get support from the people. Not only did he draw flak from the opposition parties, he also doesn’t seem to have received support from his UMNO colleagues and many others.

The second finance minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani said that Noh Omar’s plan is unsustainable and illogical[iii]while CIMB chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak in his instagram has described this plan as “dangerous”. The National House Buyers Association of Malaysia (HBA) Secretary General Chang Kim Loong also weighed in to say that the proposal is “ridiculous”[iv]. Even the deputy prime minister Zahid Hamidi and Treasury Sectretary-General Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah were very reserved in their responses to this proposal.

Yesterday, rating agency Fitch Ratings has also stated that the scheme, if implemented, will add to the risks associated with rising household debt and many households could struggle to service the loan at such high interest rates.

 With that, we hope that Noh Omar will ditch his unsustainable, illogical, dangerous and ridiculous plan of allowing developers to be moneylenders to the homebuyers. It is time for Noh Omar to eat humble pie and announce the cancellation of the plan instead of leaving the stakeholders hanging in the air while his ministry “studies the proposal” as suggested by the cabinet[v].  In fact, it is perplexing how a minister could make announcement of such important policy without first studying it comprehensively.

It is about three months since Noh Omar is back to the cabinet. We understand his eagerness to perform but it should not come with such ill-conceived policy. We would like to suggest Noh Omar to focus on the following aspects instead.

Firstly, the 11^th Malaysia Plan has a target of providing 653,000 units of affordable housing during the period of 2016-2020, which is an average of about 130,000 affordable houses per year[vi].  We would like to know how is his ministry is going to deliver that.

Secondly, Khazanah in its report “Making Housing Affordable” stated that housing unaffordability problem is mainly due to structural problem caused by unresponsive housing sector to the market demand. It has recommended Putrajaya to do National Housing Survey that will be able to provide an integrated database on housing to ensure housing supply matches the demand according to the location, price and target group as well as to develop measures to improve the efficacy of the construction industry’s delivery system, which is currently highly fragmented. We would like to know what is his ministry plan on these policy recommendations.  

Noh Omar must know that housing policies must be studied comprehensively and should not be determined according to his whims and fancies because an ill-conceived housing policy will not only affect housing market hence the shelters of the people but also the financial strength of the country.

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[i]http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/putrajaya-allows-developers-to-give-housing-loans

[ii]https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/355623

[iii]https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/355253

[iv]http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/09/10/hba-ridiculous-to-let-developers-lend-money/

[v]http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/minister-cabinet-wants-to-tweak-developers-bridging-loan

[vi]http://rmk11.epu.gov.my/pdf/strategy-paper/Strategy%20Paper%2006.pdf

This is not the time to politicize water disruptions.

September 27, 2016, 2:26 am

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Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman of Damansara Utama on Tuesday 27 September 2016 in Petaling Jaya.

This is not the time to politicize water disruptions.

I was appalled watching video clips of Noh Omar’s press conference this evening about Selangor water disruptions. I have expected more substantial suggestions from a minister, but apparently he was more interested to score political point over Menteri Besar Azmin Ali.

First of all, I would like to remind Noh Omar that monitoring river quality is the responsibility of both Jabatan Alam Sekitar (JAS), which is a federal agency, and Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS), which is a state agency. Both the federal and state government should take collective responsiblities in controlling river pollution. In any case, the focus right now should be to work together to quickly identify the source of the pollution to ensure there is no reoccurence. After that, both governments need to ensure that the main culprit is charged at court and get the heaviest punishment possible as provided by the relevant laws. 

Secondly, I would like to inform Noh Omar that although Semenyih river pollution has led to the shut down of Semenyih water treatment plant (WTP), it was not the only factor for the prolong water disruptions. If Syabas water distribution network had sufficient water reserve, Semenyih WTP shutdown would not have disrupted the water supply. Nevertheless, our water reserve margin is at 1% only. The reason for this low reserve margin is many years of underinvestment in water infrastruture under the private consessionaires. Despite the federal government’s repeated bailouts of Syabas and Puncak Niaga to a total of RM3.6 billion in the form of grants and loans[i], the non-revenue water (NRW) of Syabas stayed as high as 33% instead of 20% according to the concessionaire agreement. At 33% of NRW, every 100 liter (L) of water produced at the WTP, only 67L reached the consumers while 33L is wasted through pipe leakages, thefts and unaccounted lost. If Syabas had reduced the NRW to 20% by replacing old pipes and upgrading infrastructure, our water reserve margin would have been more than 10%, which is sufficient for us to avoid this water disruption despite plant shutdown.

Thirdly, I would like to reassure Noh Omar that unlike the private concessionaires, whose main goal is to maximize profit leading to many years of underinvestment in water infrastructure, Selangor government has invested heavily in water infrastructure since taking over Syabas and Puncak Niaga in the end of 2015. Some of the main projects are as below: -

i.       Projek Mitagasi 2

a.     Total cost: RM 215 million

b.     Completed recently and increased Selangor water supply to Petaling district by 235 MLD.

ii.     Projek Mitigasi 3

a.     Total Cost: RM 43 million

b.     To upgrade Langat WTP to increase water supply to Hulu Langat district

c.      Project started and estimated completion in early 2017.

iii.    Construction of Semenyih 2 WTP

a.     Allocated Budget: RM 150 million

b.     Started construction and estimated completion in 2018.  

iv.    Construction of Labohan Dagang WTP

a.     Allocated Budget: RM 500 million

b.     Started construction and estimated completion in 2018.  

v.     Pipe replacement for 23 pipe burst hotspots 

a.     Allocated Budget: RM 133 million.

b.     In tendering process and estimated completion of all the 23 hotspots in 2018.

With the on-going projects listed above, Selangor will achieve a comfortable water supply position in 2018. Having said that, I believe there are many more initiatives Selangor government needs to embark on to ensure water security such as: -

i.                Invest in automated river quality monitoring and control system;

ii.              Run an effective water conservation program to manage demand;

iii.             Execute an aggressive action plan to reduce NRW;

iv.             Allocate more budget to replace pipes (more than 6,000 km old asbestos-cement pipes need to be replaced).

All in all, there are still so much that need to be done to ensure water security for the people of Selangor. If Noh Omar doesn’t have constructive suggestions, perhaps the best thing he can do is to let the Selangor state government does its works in peace.

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[i]http://www.malaysia-today.net/the-prime-ministers-rm120-million-handout-to-syabas-proves-both-syabas-incompetence-and-bns-continued-support-to-its-crony/

Rosmah Mansor, PERMATA and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Malaysia

September 28, 2016, 9:18 pm

≫ Next: Can we talk about affordable childcare now?

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Article written by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman for Damansara Utama on Thursday 29^th September 2016 in Petaling Jaya.

Rosmah Mansor, PERMATA and Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Malaysia

For the past two weeks, Rosmah Mansor, PERMATA and her supposedly “UNESCO” award have flooded the news portals. While how the story develops is rather interesting to follow, I believe an important issue that we should also look into is PERMATA, which was first conceived to develop early childhood education in Malaysia. 

James J. Heckman, Nobel Laureate in Economics and an expert in the economics of human development, has been advocating government invesment in early childhood care and education (ECCE). Heckman’s Equation proves statistically that investing in early childhood saves taxpayer monies in the long run - good ECCE results in lower social welfare cost, decreased crime rate and increased tax revenue. In fact, ECCE investment produces the highest rate of return on investment in human capital development (as shown in the figure below).

Therefore, any government initiatives to develop ECCE including PERMATA should not be brushed off immediately just because of the person who advocates is not likable.  Nevertheless, despite funding PERMATA generously every year, there is generally a lack of strategic direction by Putrajaya in ECCE development. There is no plan to ensure there are good quality childcare and pre-school education at affordable price for all Malaysian children. 

Now, full-day childcare monthly fees in Klang Valley ranges from RM 350 to more than RM2,000 per child depending on the quality of the childcare centers. Childcare expenses have become an increased burden to many young families. And only those who are well-to-do can send their children to good quality childcare centers. The lack of good quality childcare at affordable price drives women out of the workforce as it is more economical for them to stay at home to teach and take care of the children. When women stop working, the households go from dual-income and single-income, reducing the total household incomes. Worse still, various reports have shown that this is more likely to happen in low and middle income families, resulting in increased gap between the rich and the poor.

Furthermore, women dropout from the workforce is an economic loss to the country. This is especially true for Malaysia as our women are increasingly better educated than men -  the enrollment to tertiary education is currently about 60% women and only 40% men.  As of now, Malaysia has one of the lowest female labour participation rate in South East Asia with only 54% of women in working age in the workforce. The United Nation Development Program (UNDP) calculated that increasing female participation rate to 70% would boost Malaysia gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.9%, which is equivalent to around RM 33 billion every year.

In short, by pushing and facilitating good quality yet affordable childcare in Malaysia, we will be able to gain the best return of investment on human development, increase household income, reduce inequality and keep women’s talents in the workforce hence benefiting the country’s economy as a whole.

To provide good and affordable childcare, Malaysia can learn from Singapore, Australia, Finland and many other Scandinavian countries. Childcare in those countries are subsidized by the the government whereby tiered subsidies are given - amount of subsidies differ according to household income level. The childcare centers in those countries are mainly run by private operators at competitive market. To be eligible for the subsidies, they must meet certain requirements set by the government, which usually comprise of student-teacher ratio, qualifications of the teachers, safety standards and so on, to ensure good quality childcare.

The Selangor government has similar subsidy programs such as TUNAS (Skim Bantuan Tadika Selangor) and Si Kembar (Skim Bantuan Asuhan Selangor). However, they are only limited to households with the income level less than RM2,500 and provide only small amount of subsidies. To expand the program to middle income families and increase the amount of subsidies to include better quality childcare centers are beyond the state government’s financial capability and jurisdictions. The Selangor state government budget is only 1% of the federal government budget and ECCE is supposed to developed by Education Ministry as well as Women, Family and Community Development Ministry. (I believe PERMATA is strategically wrong to be parked under Prime Minister Office.)

Early childhood is an important phase for cognitive, socio-emotional, physical and intellectual development for children. Whether Permata gets international recognition or not does not matter, what matters is that Putrajaya will make and execute a comprehensive and holistic plan to ensure that good quality childcare is available at affordable price, so that all our children will have equal opportunity to learn and develop in the early age, regardless of the income levels of the familes.

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Can we talk about affordable childcare now?

September 29, 2016, 3:12 am

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This article is written to raise awareness about the need to ensure good quality childcare are available at affordable price in Malaysia. 

Picture with my nieces and nephew, who like every Malaysian child,  

deserve good quality childcare when it is needed, regardless their parents income level. 

Why is affordable childcare an important topic? 

I have no children but affordable childcare is something that is very close to my heart because making childcare affordable is a serious matter in terms of human development as well as social and economic justice. 

1. Childcare is a financial burden to many families. 

Now, full-day childcare monthly fees in Klang Valley ranges from RM 350 to more than RM2,000 per child depending on the quality of the childcare centers. Childcare expenses have become an increased burden to many young families. 

2. The quality of childcare depends on who can pay more. 

Only those who are well-to-do can send their children to good quality childcare centers. In another words, children of the haves and havenots will have completely different starting points, feeding into the vicious cycle of inequality. 

3. Unaffordable childcare increases inequality. 

The lack of good quality childcare at affordable price drives women out of the workforce as it is more economical for them to stay at home to teach and take care of their children. When women stop working, the households go from dual-income and single-income, reducing the total household incomes. Worse still, various reports have shown that this is more likely to happen in low and middle income families, resulting in increased gap between the rich and the poor.

4. When women don't work, it is an economic loss to the country.

Women dropout from the workforce is an economic loss to the country. This is especially true for Malaysia as our women are increasingly better educated than men -  the enrollment to tertiary education is currently about 60% women and only 40% men.  As of now, Malaysia has one of the lowest female labour participation rate in South East Asia with only 54% of women in working age in the workforce. The United Nation Development Program (UNDP) calculated that increasing female participation rate to 70% would boost Malaysia gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.9%, which is equivalent to around RM 33 billion every year.

5. Investment in children gives the best return on investment for government in term of human development. 

James J. Heckman, Nobel Laureate in Economics and an expert in the economics of human development, has been advocating government invesment in early childhood care and education (ECCE). Heckman’s Equation proves statistically that investing in early childhood saves taxpayer monies in the long run - good ECCE results in lower social welfare cost, decreased crime rate and increased tax revenue. In fact, ECCE investment produces the highest rate of return on investment in human capital development (as shown in the figure below).

What can we do about it? 

To provide good and affordable childcare, Malaysia can learn from Singapore, Australia, Finland and many other Scandinavian countries. Childcare in those countries are subsidized by the the government whereby tiered subsidies are given - amount of subsidies differ according to household income level. The childcare centers in those countries are mainly run by private operators at competitive market. To be eligible for the subsidies, they must meet certain requirements set by the government, which usually comprise of student-teacher ratio, qualifications of the teachers, safety standards and so on, to ensure good quality childcare.The amount of subsidies are computed in such a way that households spend similar percentage of disposable income on childcare. 

In addition, Government must also identify the structural barriers faced by the childcare industry and work to improve macro-environment so that childcare businesses can be run more competently and efficiently, offering better services at cheaper price. 

What does the Selangor government do about it? 

The Selangor government has similar subsidy programs such as TUNAS (Skim Bantuan Tadika Selangor) and Si Kembar (Skim Bantuan Asuhan Selangor). However, they are only limited to households with the income level less than RM2,500 and provide only small amount of subsidies. To expand the program to middle income families and increase the amount of subsidies to include better quality childcare centers are beyond the state government’s financial capability and jurisdictions. The Selangor state government budget is only 1% of the federal government budget and childcare is supposed to be developed by Education Ministry as well as Women, Family and Community Development Ministry. Therefore, we need political will from the federal government to make a more holistic reform in childcare industry. 

Ending

I hope that Putrajaya can consider the proposal above and derive a comprehensive and strategic plan to ensure that good quality childcare is available at affordable price, so that all our children will have equal opportunity to learn and develop in the early age, regardless of the income levels of the families. 

One-Sided 1MDB Forum in UM Another Reminder UUCA Must Go

October 17, 2016, 10:03 pm

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Media Statement by Yeo Bee Yin, State Assemblywoman for Damansara Utama on Saturday 15 October 2016 in Petaling Jaya.

The one-sided 1MDB forum at Universiti Malaya (UM) organised by the UM students representative council (MPPUM) and Department of Special Affairs (Jasa) featuring 1MDB number one propagandist Arul Kanda Kandasamy was another reminder to us that the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971 (UUCA) must be abolished.

It is sad to see Universiti Malaya, which was once a hotbed for student activism and idealism, has become a place for a one-sided-story. When the students held up placards that read ‘1MDB don’t spin’, ‘1MDB - Return the people’s money’, ‘Students want answers’, etc, they were labelled by Tun Faisal Ismail Aziz, a former Umno Youth leader, as “uncivilised”. But seriously, what could be more uncivilised than shamelessly stealing people’s monies?

While we are asking in Malaysia why there was no other side of the 1MDB story presented to the students in UM; across the Pacific Ocean, Washington University in St Louis was the venue for the United States’ second presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. What a stark difference. When will we see the day that Universiti Malaya or any university in Malaysia become the host of election debates between political parties?

Embed from Getty Images

Although the UCCA was amended in 2012 to allow students to participate in politics outside of the campus, Section 15 still prohibits political activities inside campus and imposes restrictions on students from organisations that the university board determines to be “unsuitable to the interests and well-being of the students or the University”.

Section 15, coupled with Section 4 that strips away autonomy from the universities, makes critical thinking and objective debates impossible in campuses across Malaysia.

Since the enactment of the UUCA, tertiary students in Malaysia have been scared away from national issues. Many students are fearful to participate in political activities. In my short journey as a politician, I have met countless of students who asked me whether their scholarships would be taken away or whether they would be expelled from the universities if they participate in rallies, forums, events or programmes organised by the opposition political parties.

The culture of fear is prevalent. In addition, it is ironic and laughable to see many tertiary institutions offering subjects related to “critical thinking” when the very core spirit of the law that governs them is based on restrictions and controls.

Embed from Getty Images

The UUCA must be abolished to break the culture of fear. Putrajaya must give back autonomy to universities so that knowledge and critical thinking can flourish in the universities across Malaysia without restrictions and interventions of the politicians.

As a state legislator of the ruling government in Selangor, I understand the heat a government has to go through with intense criticisms. However, a government must not fear criticisms and run away from them by imposing laws that restrict the right of the people to know the truths and their freedom to express disagreements. We must be able to engage with the people so to uphold the real meaning of democracy and to be the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

In the spirit of impartiality and neutrality, I would like to suggest that UM organise a forum or debate that allows another side of 1MDB story to be told to the students of UM. Nevertheless, with the UUCA still in place, will UM ever dare to allow such forum to take place in the university?

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