Kemewahan yang boleh dipersoalkan

Politik Rakyat-Centric berhak mempersoalkan kemewahan para pemimpin dan ahli-ahli keluarganya…lebih-lebih lagi dalam keadaan Rakyat yang serba kekurangan, khususnya dalam keperluan dan khidmat asas…

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Sarawak CM’s daughter has RM28 mil ‘palace’

Mar 21, 09 1:00pm

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s daughter and her developer husband are proud owners of Ottawa’s second most expensive house, worth RM28.3 million.The palatial home belonging to Jamilah Hamidah Taib and her husband Sean Murray is ranked No 2 among the most expensive private residences in the Canadian capital, according to the Municipal Property Assessment Corp. “The couple’s house at 688 Manor Ave in Rockcliffe Park, completed late last year, is worth C$9,609,000 (RM28.3 million), assessors have decided,” daily Ottawa Citizen reported in on Jan 19. The annual property tax bill alone for the house is C$100,000 (RM293,000). According to the daily, the most expensive Ottawa home belongs to Marlen and Michael Cowpland, which is valued at C$12,535,000 (RM36.8 million) Jamilah and Murray are high-flying business people - they both own Sakto Corporation, a major real estate operator in Ottawa. They also own Sakto Development Corporation, a multi-million dollar development and construction company in Ottawa, while Jamilah is the sole director of Sakto Investment Corporation. The couple’s newly-built mansion, which is clad in marble along with some 20 chandeliers, is in the post suburb of Rockcliffe where 24 of the top 25 Ottawa homes are located. “Well-heeled neighbours were impressed when the couple showed off their new home at a recent house-warming and Christmas party,” said the daily. According to one guest, the mansion looks like an old English manor. “The Murray-Taib home has cathedral ceilings throughout the ground floor, and about 12,500 square feet of living space. It takes up much of the lot size of less than one acre,” added Ottawa Citizen.

Pakatan raises RM43,000 from Democracy plaque auction

Five broken pieces of a marble plaque erected by the Pakatan Rakyat and vandalised by supporters of arch enemy Umno-Barisan Nasional fetched a staggering RM43,000-00 at an auction on Sunday.

That’s much, much more than Perak Speaker V Sivakumar or Menteri Besar Nizar Jamaluddin or even Sitiawan assemblyman Ngeh Koo Ham and their colleagues had ever dared to hope for.

The black marble plaque was installed to commemorate a unique event of democracy that occured on Mar 5, and to celebrate the courage of the human spirit that led Sivakumar and his colleagues to defy the odds as they stood up for the democratic rights of the Perak people,

Indeed, it is telling of the extent of respect and admiration for their feat. Turned away by the police and locked out of the state secretariat building, where the legislative hall is located, Sivakumar and 27 other lawmakers made their way to a nearby parking lot and gathered under a sprawling decades-old raintree.

A dire warning to Najib, Zambry

Under its balmy shade, Siva and his colleagues carried out their emergency sitting, tabling three motions that will precipitate the end of the Umno-BN’s controversial hold on the state government.

Since then, scores of attempts have been made by Umno, especially their controlled media, to ridicule the process that has become a major embarrassment to their incoming president Najib Abdul Razak and menteri besar Zambry Kadir.

Both men were responsible for plotting the lock-out and the rough police action. Soon after the historic session under what has now been named the Tree of Democracy, supporters also vandalised the plaque.

Carrying inscription detailing the event, the oblong marble was hammered to pieces. Blackish liquid was splashed over the wording, in a bid to erase the memory of the event that showed up the Umno-BN’s attempt to suppress the Perak people.

Hundreds of Malaysians from different parts of the nation turned up for the auction. Bidding began at RM500 and the first piece was sold for RM6,800. The sale ended up fetching a total of RM43,000 - with the highest bid at RM17,000 offered by a Johor-based businessman.

Nizar, who opened the auction, said the proceeds will be used to build a “new, greater and more lasting monument to democracy”.

The lesson here? The people are not dumb. You can twist the facts and even the law. But the people can and will judge for themselves. Indeed, this is a dire warning to Najib, Zambry and their ilk.

Kerajaan Pakatan Selangor perluas konsep kebajikan

Genap sembilan bulan selepas kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Selangor 'merakyatkan ekonominya', kini ia melangkah ke fasa kedua program kebajikan tersebut, demikian diumumkan oleh Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim malam tadi.

Berucap kepada kira-kira 4,000 orang di Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam, sempena ulangtahun pertama pentadbiran kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Selangor, Khalid berkata, fasa kedua itu termasuk bantuan kepada golongan belia, usahawan dan kakitangan kerajaan negeri.

Menurutnya, kerajaan negeri merancang untuk membantu golongan belia dan usahawan untuk memperbaiki gaya hidup meraka.

Kumpulan itu, tambahnya, perlu diberi peluang untuk memulakan perniagaan mereka sendiri atau meningkatkan lagi kemahiran masing-masing dalam bidang pertanian secara sistematik.

Bagi kakitangan wanita kerajaan negeri pula, kata Abdul Khalid, mereka akan diberi tambahan 30 hari cuti bersalin, menjadi 90 hari.

Di bawah program tersebut, tambahnya, kerajaan negteri sedang memajukan konsep "Rumah Untuk Semua" di mana setiap rakyat Selangor berhak memiliki rumah sendiri berdasarkan kemampuan kewangan masing-masing.

Menurutnya, mereka kini boleh membeli rumah sendiri, sama ada banglo, rumah teres ataupun apartmen pada bila-bila masa yang sesuai.

Bagaimanapun, Abdul Khalid kecewa kerana usaha kebajikan yang dilaksanakan oleh kerajaan Selangor tidak mendapat tempat dalam media arus perdana milik BN.

Menurutnya, tidak mengapa sekiranya media milik BN tidak mahu memberi publisiti terhadap usaha kebajikan tersebut.

Yang penting, katanya, ialah rakyat Selangor dan Malaysia kini sudah bijak dalam membuat keputusan masing-masing.