VOXPOP 'Ibrahim Ali must take a stand in order that zakat contributions are not misuse for whatever personal reasons.'

PKR demands Jamil answer zakat abuse claim

Sarajun Hoda: All the three individuals, especially Minister in Charge of Islamic Affairs Jamil Khir Baharom, must be called in for questioning to determine who actually made the decision to advance zakat money because it is tantamount to 'pecah amanah' (betrayal of trust) and they must be severely punished. 'Harapkan pagar, pagar makan padi'.

But then, zakat (tithe) funds held by the ‘majlis agama' (religious councils) have always been mismanaged. Baitulmal also used similar money to do businesses and lost plenty. Who checks their actions?

Or does all ‘majlises' and ‘jabatans' have full impunity to do anything they want just because they have the patronage of the sultans? The recent controversy over Selangor sultan and the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) auditing issue proves the point.

Bluemountains: Next time, when you are short of money, just go to any supermarket and take whatever you require and go home.

If you are caught, just tell them that it is the latest ‘law' that you can take first and pay later. If they don't believe what you say, just ask them to contact the Umno minister concerned. If taken to court, just subpoena the same Umno minister.

Tpn: Where are Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali and the Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria? Normally they are very critical when it comes to the opposition parties. However in this case, they seem to be keeping very quiet. Where are the defenders of Islam?

Jeremy Ng: It is time Perkasa pursue this issue. It clearly showed abuses of the Malay race and going against Islamic teachings. Ibrahim Ali must take a stand in order that zakat contributions are not misuse for whatever personal reasons.

Failing which, Perkasa cannot claim to be championing the interest of the race and religion.

Nga gets death threat, bullet in the mail

Malaysian Born: So let me get this straight, after all the rhetoric about wanting non-Muslims to understand and try to appreciate Islam, you have an elected leader who is able to quote effectively from the Quran or if he questions why an unexplained budgetary reduction in an government allocation relevant to non-Muslims takes place, he is considered ‘kurang ajar', and a live bullet sent to his parents and threats of acid to be splashed on his face.

The other point is how these live bullets kept being sent around as threats when you need to have licences for guns and need to account for your bullets.

Are unlicenced arms and munitions so commonly available that a third-rate, low-class, mutt-like person who made the threat can get his hands on a bullet?

Alan Goh: Even if the awarding of a tailor contract to Perak DAP secretary Nga Kor Ming's wife's company, who is a sleeping partner, is true, it is just for a pittance of profit as compared to the NFC's (National Feedlot Corporation) RM250 millions soft-loan scandal given to the Wanita Umno chief's family.

It is similar to the late Teoh Beng Hock of DAP who was found dead on the 5th floor of MACC building over an alleged pittance sum of RM2,400 whereas Abdul Razak Baginda of Perimaker, who knows little about submarines, could collect as commission RM500 million for the two Scorpene submarines that have problems diving.

Malaysians, use your head during this coming 13th general election, otherwise suffer another five years of abuses and corruption under Umno/BN.

BN's early election plan in disarray

Moontime: It is not surprising at all to see 100 percent increase in salary for Jusa (special scale for senior civil servants) when the formulators of SBPA (new public service remuneration scheme) themselves come from the top echelon of civil servants.

Just like the rich influencing the lawmakers to formulate laws that benefit themselves, this phenomenon is very common and we are not immune to it. Not getting feedback from Cuepacs (civil service union) during the formulation of SBPA only makes it worse.

Now the government is in damage control mode and scrambling to pacify the increasingly angry civil servants in the lower category. When will Umno-BN ever learn that what works in the past, may not work now?

It seems that the politicians forgot or tend to ignore the significant impact of the information age. People have become more critical, smarter and can smell a rat from miles away.

Disgusted: If so much of money is being dished out as carrots to rakyat (only a selected few) for votes, who will eventually be made to pay for it after elections? The rakyat of course.

Get ready to be whacked left, right and centre via increase in taxes and rates in both government and GLCs (government-linked companies) to recover whatever has been dished out.

Docs: The reason that the Jusa civil servants are getting a 100 percent salary hike under new public service remuneration scheme (SBPA) is because the Umno government understands that inflation and cost of living have gone up and this layer of civil servants are most vulnerable.

The cost of a new C and S class Mercedes or BMW 5 series have gone up. Petrol prices for these gas guzzling cars will go up after GE13. GST (goods and services tax) will be imposed next year and this will increase the prices of higher-end food stuff and luxury items.

There will be less chances for these civil servants to make money from corrupt practice now that government allocation to various departments have be slashed.

Thus the Umno government wants to ensure that the Jusa and upper class of the civil servants are able to continue living with the same standard afforded to them by the government.

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