Sunday, September 11, 2011

Wrong Frequencies

The industry's 6% press statement




Just read Don't blame telcos for prepaid tax, PKR tells PM. 
Hehe.
What else can you expect a political party like PKR to do but politicize a strictly business-industry decision? 
We won't take PKR seriously on matters like this, of course, after all this is a party led by a man who would have sub-contracted the running of the Malaysian economy to the IMF if he had succeeded in becoming PM in 1998 which, incidentally, was the same year the Government introduced the so-called prepaid tax.
Anwar Ibrahim might even have a hand in the prepaid tax for all we know! He was Finance Minister then, after all.

Anyway, back to the don't-blame-telcos piece in the Malaysian Insider. The PKR dude has a point, actually. Takkan Najib Razak tak tau, kot? The industry players have held several meetings to discuss passing of the prepaid tax to consumers. They met the relevant ministry's officials who surely would have advised the CEOs of the telcos on their proposed move and informed the relevant Minister. Everyone knows that the telcos have been absorbing the prepaid tax since 1998 and has been wanting to pass it to the consumers but were never able to agree on it until now. Everybody knows, too, that it was not Celcom's idea or Maxis' desire, that it was the guys from DiGi who were the ones pushing very hard ...


Rais Yatim, the "relevant" Minister here, is known as a hands-on, man.. He likes to put his fingers and hands in places he shouldn't. He is so hands-on that when Bernama hosted the media buka puasa with the PM during Ramadan, the chairman of the national news agency did not get to deliver his address because Rais Yatim felt he and not the chairman should be the one addressing the journalists in the presence of the PM and his wife.


So I don't believe Rais Yatim did not know about the telcos' decision to pass down the taxes to the people who should be paying them in the first place - the consumers. He said the government had no say in the telcos' decision. Yes, it is a collective decision by the industry but since when has the ministry not have a say? The telcos are regularly told to "donate" money for and send "participants" to Rais Yatim's events ... They are the ones who usually don't have a say. 


Assuming Rais Yatim knew of the 6 per cent decision, why then didn't he brief the Cabinet and keep the PM in the loop? 
He not on the same frequency with PM and his colleagues?


And if he did not know of what the telcos were plannng to do, well .... I've always said that the ministry is too big, too complicated for Rais Yatim.


Either way, Big Dog thinks Rais failed big time .... The PKR people may disagree.

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:46 am

    Why not we call a spade a spade.

    This increment has nothing to do with services tax at all. It has been paid by telcos from the very beginning to the govt. Obviously paid using the money telcos received from customer. Don’t tell me the telcos have to sell its own property to pay for the taxes.

    So what’s happening here actually is telcos increasing prepaid price by 6%. They are just letting the govt to be the scapegoat.

    Don’t let the telcos win the war of perception. Give heat to the telcos.

    ReplyDelete
  2. kalau macam ni boleh bungkus dalam pru 13.

    usabukata

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous9:04 am

    orang paling bangang pun tau laa bro..satu-satu benda kalau nak naik ka nak apa ka...depa nanti buat meeting saja 133 kali..

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous9:06 am

    The telcos are regularly told to "donate" money for and send "participants" to Rais Yatim's events ... They are the ones who usually don't have a say.

    it's to time to take back the penny!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous9:08 am

    Assuming Rais Yatim knew of the 6 per cent decision, why then didn't he brief the Cabinet and keep the PM in the loop?
    He not on the same frequency with PM and his colleagues?

    That's maybe he is one of the TEAM to bring down Najib

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous9:53 am

    you don't miss a chance to put down your good friend Rais eh?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous10:30 am

    Ho ho...nicely put datuk..very nicely indeed based on your layout!
    Sometimes you rock...
    ..though the other party has to say his side too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous10:59 am

    Malaysia could have recovered much earlier and at much lower cost had IMF approach been used. Thailand and South Korea had proved it when they recovered much earlier than us. The real reason why Mahathir didn't want IMF aid was that he was not free to use it for his cronies, especially his sons who owned sick companies desperately in need of help. By draining the coffers of the EPF and other local institutions, who was daring enough to say no to him. Anwar did it and look what happened to him.

    from: bukan pembodek

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  9. Anon 346pm,
    True, your spade.
    still, Rais as the minister in charge should not be passing the buck. He acted as if the telcos had made the decision behind his back! He can't be doing that ALL the time.

    You know Bob Dylan's Blowing in the Wind ...

    How many times can Rais screw up
    Before he is screwed by Najib
    The answer my friend
    is blowing in the wind
    The answer is blowing in the wind ..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous1:15 pm

    Dato Rock,
    Shi...t, Punahsihat sedang bekerja,
    1 untuk kau, 2 untuk aku, 2 kat hang..10 masuk poket aku..
    He3...Rakyat Penang lo

    ReplyDelete
  11. Everyone under *PA never talk. They spin.

    *PA - Putar Alam

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mazlan11:13 pm

    Dear Rocky
    as a postpaid customer we have been paying already. Now its the time of the prepaid folks.
    What I don't get is why the Govt is suddenly in shock. This 'tax' was bound to be passed on sooner or later. And no way would the telcos do it without informing MCMC and Minister.
    This Minister continuously shows his incompetence and yes still is in his post.
    What and when will the PM do something about it?

    ReplyDelete
  13. The 6% tax decision was made in full consultation and agreement with SKMM/MCMC which is under Rais. The earlier date of implementation (june/july 2011) was deferred to sept 15 and SKMM was fully aware. unless SKMM and the Minister/Ministry are not talking to each other...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Aspen3:17 pm

    Alamak Rocky, Im tired of seeing Rais' face behind Najib or Rosmah every where they go. Hasnt he got work to do? Najib pun - when are you going clean up your team? We, the people, are tired of seeing the same old ampu bodek faces around you.They have too much unsavoury baggage laa! Get a more trustworthy and effective line-up please. Not diva ministers who think they and their wives are the maharajahs and maharanis of their particular ministries. Harrrump!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Skilgannon10664:26 pm

    The government is in denial over the proposed comprehensive goods and services tax (aka tax on consumption). It is an act of sheer political cowardice.

    Add that to the bull-headed retention of subsidies and price controls and you have a recipe for economic disaster down the road, when the rating agencies take a long hard look at the country's budgets, revenue and expenditure.

    Petronas, Tenaga and the IPPs are at loggerheads over the issue of natural gas subsidies whereby Petronas is effectively bankrolling the power generation companies. That is totally screwed-up economic logic!

    I have always maintained that the only sectors that the government needs to subsidise are education and public healthcare. Not public transport, not food prices, not electricity, gas and water prices. Not low-cost housing either, because that is one sector that is prone to mismanagement and abuse.

    And if the public screams, then whose fault is it that Malaysia didn't get to be a high productity, high value-add and high wage economy much earlier in the day?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous3:10 pm

    Celcom-axiata is GLCs. What the G'ment has to do is stop celcom-axiata from imposing this tax to consumers. What do u think digi and maxis will do? To stay competitive, maxis and digi cannnot sell at RM10.60 when celcom is selling at RM10. Right? MOF?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous2:29 am

    wow my first time here and gosh... there is a huge load of bull crap that rocky's saying here. As a normal citizen, why won't we oppose the 6% tax which was tabled all of a sudden without announcement from the government? And why is rocky supporting that the 6% to be paid by the rakyat who is using the prepaid lines? Doesn't he support the rakyat and bring down the prices of many necessities and good in our country? Puzzled.. probably I think he might be well fed and forgotten about the less fortunate people. sigh... but hey... it might be the government is in need of money for dirty politics. I wonder why this perception is stuck in most people's head. Must had been the small little things that the government did that made us think that way. Don't u agree?

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  18. Anonymous2:30 am

    aiks... need approval to post. wth... I thought its freedom of speech. FML!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Prepaid users will be happy to pay the 6% if they can get postpaid calling rates.

    Earlier, DiGi made a killing by changing the calculation of prepaid rates from 30-sec bloc to 60-sec bloc, effectively doubling their profit for short calls.

    Rais, I love him! He never fails to make the gov appear immature, incompetent & foolish. Just the right kind of ppl needed for pissing off voters.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anon 2.29am,

    You obviously had no inkling that everyone else except the prepaid consumers have been paying the 6% service tax. Well, at least now you do know. I advise you keep coming back to my blog, there is a lot you can learn.

    ReplyDelete