P104 Kelana Jaya Newsletter July 2014

1 P u s a t K h i d m a t K e l a n a J a y a – e - n e w s l e t t e r I s s u e # 3 ,

J U L Y 2 0 1 4 WONG CHEN

Letter to the Constituents

Dear Residents of Kelana Jaya, My office will endeavour to publish a newsletter once every six months. This is our third newsletter to you, covering the period of 1

st Jan 2014 to 30

th

June 2014. Much has happened in the last six months. In the last newsletter, we printed our 2013 year end accounts for all to see. In the context of the tight budget that we operate our office, we have to be practical in how we allocate our limited resources and attention. My office has three primary functions. The main focus is to support my Parliamentary work on national issues, policy debates and law making. This part of my work is often not known, but we consistently produce position and policy papers on economic matters. The second focus is to serve the constituents in solving their problems, the bulk of which are welfare cases. The last function is to engage the community by organising dialogues and events, and also attending as many functions, gotong royongs, makans and get-togethers to meet the rakyat.

In the last six months, my team have been

processing a lot of welfare cases. In Seri Setia,

in particular in the areas of Desa Mentari and Desa

Ria, we have an estimated 1,000 extreme hardcore

poor families and another 10,000 families living on

less than RM1,500 a month. This being the case, I

have decided to cut out all unnecessary expenses

like, “majlis makan,” for festivities and redirect

60% of my allocated budget for welfare. At the

time of this newsletter, we have paid out RM111,

855.40 and processed some 221 individual welfare

cases. These supports are mere short term band

aids. There are long term solutions to urban

poverty; better health and better housing. For the

children, better education. I have written an urban

poverty policy paper on this to the Selangor

government last year but unfortunately it appears

to have fallen on deaf ears. On other Selangor

matters, I have also been critical of the Menteri

Besar’s handling on multiple water related issues,

the Canal City deals, the JAIS and MAIS actions,

and now on Kidex.

On programs, we did three community dialogues with Hannah Yeoh and two dialogues on my own. My office also organised a successful breast cancer screening day for 150 women in Desa Mentari. I also attended and gave speeches in 73 events in the last six months. Now I usually prepare my speech in my mind whilst driving to the next event. I also participated in 6 gotong royongs. I usually don’t do weddings but 5 of these were just

Contents:

1) Letter to the constituents 5)Social Welfare Cases

2) Community projects 6)Meet the new interns

3) Fundraising 7)Member of Parliament and ADUN’s office

4) Exclusive interview

WONG CHEN KELANA JAYA CONSTITUENCY e-NEWSLETTER

ISSUE 4 July 2014



politically unavoidable. To give proper context to my weekends, I work every Saturday and somehow managed to secure a solid 21 Sundays just for my family in the last 6 months. Whenever I miss out on time with the family, I try to spend most non Parliament weekday mornings, working from home. In my Parliamentary sitting in March 2014, I took part as one of the main speakers on the GST debate. Despite efforts to pressure the government to abandon and/or reconsider, the GST looks set to come in force on 1

st April 2015. A

lot of you may not see GST as a regressive tax but in the Malaysian context, the GST is in fact an additional tax. Most GST implementations usually have reciprocal tax cuts but in Malaysia, UMNO-BN intends to raise RM20 billion more from the rakyat. There is no commitment to a zero tax gain policy. In other words, come 2016 when GST is in full flow, each person (from baby to grandma) will be paying an additional RM900 a year to the government. So, if you are a family of 4, you will be paying an additional RM3,600 a year via the new GST. This is on top of your current direct and indirect taxes paid. In the last 6 months, I have continued to focus on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). During Obama’s visit, I met up with the US Trade Representative Michael Froman (it was our third meeting to date). I sensed that the TPPA is picking up pace in tandem with the geopolitical skirmishes in the East and South China seas. Be that as it may, I am still unconvinced that the TPPA will benefit us economically. I have not seen any real evidence or solid data that supports a happy outcome for Malaysian industries. Instead world renowned economist Ha-Joon Chang warns of the dangers of free trade to developing and smaller nations that require protectionism to build internal capabilities before competition. More alarming is my assessment that the government and our major industries and businesses are blissfully unprepared for it. The coming months up to year end may be crucial. MPs from both sides may be called to debate on this all important matter. Lastly, in this June 2014 Parliamentary sitting, I took on the Finance Minister/PM Najib on the matter of the IRB Funds. I exposed the Finance Minister’s intention to form an investment panel within the IRB, and this fight made national and international news. Ultimately, the government withdrew the bill. This is my single biggest achievement to date as your Member of

Parliament. This victory will spur me to remain vigilant and continue to protect the interests of the rakyat. To stay in touch with my thoughts, works and events, you are invited to follow me on facebook at: www.facebook.com/wongchenpkr.

Wong Chen

http://www.facebook.com/wongchenpkr



Wong Chen Kelana Jaya

E-newsletter #1: August 2013

Editor: Wong Chen

Contributors: Jane Lazar, Sweeny, Deborah Augustin, Timothy Kang

____________________

Enquiries Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 03-56137919 Fax: 03-56137919

Address: 113B (2nd Floor) Jalan SS14/1 47500 Subang Jaya

Selangor Malaysia

Wong Chen Kelana Jaya

Constituency e-newsletter is published by Pusat Khidmat P104 Wong Chen Kelana Jaya

Constituency e-newsletter, Ahli Parlimen Kelana Jaya

Selangor Malaysia

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My office has a policy of not organizing open houses for festivals or holidays as we have a limited budget, and many needy people in our constituency. Instead, we try our best to use the allocation on infrastructure repairs and community events that will offer some kind of health or educational benefit to the constituents of Kelana

Jaya.

Visit to Science Centre On the 27

th of March my office organized a trip

during the March school holidays to the National Science Centre for children from the Desa Mentari low cost flats. A group of 40 children and their chaperones from Blocks 3 and 5 attended the day trip. The children had a lot of fun playing in the wading pool at the Science Centre in the morning before heading into the Science Centre to explore and learn. I was able to meet with the children at the beginning of the day before heading off to

Parliament for the day’s session while my staff supervised the trip for the rest of the day.

Breast Cancer Screening We organized our first breast cancer screening on the 4th of May for Blocks 4, 5 & 6 of Desa Mentari in collaboration with the Breast Cancer Welfare Association. Our target was to screen 75 women, but at the end of the day we screened 150 women.

During the screening two women were found to have lumps, and we were able to offer them a follow up screening and check up at University Hospital.

Community Projects

1: The children in the butterfly park at the Science Centre

2: The group at the Science Centre



HELP US HELP YOU!

Account: Maybank

Name: “Pusat Khidmat P104 Kelana Jaya”

Account Number: 564892109110

Branch: 648928000; Mont Kiara, Kuala

Lumpur

You can send a donation to us via Internet

banking, an ATM, or cheque. Please send an

email to [email protected] so

that we can verify your donation. We will

respect your privacy.

Desa Ria We have been looking at different ways to rejuvenate the Desa Ria low cost flats. The first phase of our efforts involved the clearing of 98 blocked sewage drains in January and February of this year. However, this is a short term solution as the sewage pipes are too small for the density of the population. The long term solution is to completely replace the current pipes with bigger ones. The next phase of our project involves replacing the metal staircases that are in total disrepair due to the theft of the metal railings by drug addicts and general wear and tear. Our office came up with the solution of using brick to avoid the theft problem and to ensure the staircases remain structurally sound. My office is pledging RM 20, 000 towards this project.

4: My volunteers and I with the tender documents for our staircase project.

I have mentioned before that the budget allocated by the state government for running my office is RM 50, 000, while community work is allocated RM 100, 000. I receive no allocation for developing my constituency from the Federal Government. However, it has recently come to light that Barisan National MPs receive RM 1 million a year to for developing their constituencies. To compensate for this deficit, my office conducts fundraising throughout the year to help with office costs and our community projects. For the first quarter of this year we held a movie fundraiser on the 27

th of March. We sold tickets

to the premiere of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and raised a total of RM 12, 003.80 from ticket sales and cash donations.

If you would like to contribute to our office, please find the details below.

Fundraising

1: YB Hannah Yeoh officiating the breast screening event

5: YB Hannah Yeoh, Captain America and Myself at the

fundraiser

mailto:[email protected]



An exclusive interview with Wong Chen, Parti

Keadilan Rakyat, Member of Parliament for

Kelana Jaya, Selangor, 20 June 2014.

Q. On 12 June 2014, you broke the story of a new

investment fund proposed via amendments to

the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) Act. What was

this all about?

The current Inland Revenue Board (IRB) Act allows

the IRB to create a fund called the IRB Fund to

make investments. The proposed amendments by

the Finance Minister sought to create an

Investment Panel to replace the IRB’s powers on

all investment matters. If the amendments are

passed, the IRB will give away its investment duty

and powers to this proposed Investment Panel.

In addition, the amendments sought to expand the

Investment Panel’s power to invest in any type of

investment as long as it is approved the Minister of

Finance (currently PM Najib) including IPOs. The

amendments are peculiar because the IRB is a tax

collection agency and not a sovereign wealth fund.

What was even fishier: the amendments propose

that the Minister of Finance be given direct and

indirect powers to appoint 6 out of 7 members of

the Investment Panel. The inclusion of the

Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (the central

bank) as the 7th member, was a dead give-away

that this fund would not be a small thing but likely

to be a multi-billion Ringgit fund. Why else would

the Governor be called to such duty?

Q. Who did you discuss your concerns about the

amendments to the IRB Act? Who was most

interested?

I spoke to a professor of public policy, who is a

world renowned expert in fiscal matters. He was

very surprised to hear about this approach. Within

the party, I consulted with Rafizi Ramli (MP for

Pandan) as this was a matter of national

importance and he has a strong corporate and

management accounting background. I alerted

several Malaysia financial news editors and

international ones including the Financial Times,

Asian Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. Most

importantly, I contacted the international rating

agencies. I thought they would be interested as it

is a national fiscal issue, where tax revenues could

be tapped at source and the Finance Minister

could pursue more off budget projects. My

immediate suspicion was that this looked like the

proposed formation of the next 1MDB. In fact, the

IPO clause might have seen the IRB Fund also

being used to invest in the soon to be listed 1MDB.

Q. What was Barisan Nasional’s rebuttal or clarification? Do you accept what they say?

Three days after my press conference, the 2nd Minister of Finance made a statement, which was reported in Sin Chew that that no tax revenue would be used by the Investment Panel. He said that the IRB Fund would only comprise of moneys from 1.5% on tax revenues after deducting salaries, bonuses and operating costs of the IRB.

First, an important digression. This is the first time

the BN government has confirmed what everyone

has been suspicious about, that the IRB is being

incentivized by a commission rate to collect more

tax. According to the Minister, the current

commission rate is 1.5% of total tax collected. We

must remember that 1.5% rate is not law and it is

not fixed by legislation. This rate could vary on

executive orders, up or down.

Let me illustrate the point. This year the IRB

targets to collect RM140 billion in tax. IRB will be

paid a 1.5% commission rate on the collection; i.e.

thus for 2014, the IRB will get RM2.1 billion for its

operations and investments. There are 11,000 IRB

staff. Do the math and you will see that for each

officer, RM190,000 is spent on them for

operational costs, salaries, bonus and investments.

That’s why the IRB officers have been working

extra hard.

Now back to the Minister’s point on the IRB Fund.

The Minister is saying that the IRB Fund will come

purely from the 1.5%. So after deducting salaries

Exclusive Interview



and bonuses and operating costs, the leftover is to

be used for investment. So how big is this leftover?

In 2011, (this is the latest figures publicly available)

the IRB Fund for investments stood at RM255

million, all in fixed deposits with licensed banks.

So what the Minister basically said is that I was

wrong in my allegations and that the Fund will

continue to be relatively small at around RM255

million and that this is not a 1MDB sized type of

fund. That this IRB Fund is merely a small fund for

officers of IRB and thus not a big deal.

What the Minister said is not the full story. When I

first read the bill, I saw the genius of the drafting

for these amendments. Whoever drafted this is

one smart fellow. The current section 23 of the

Act, allows the IRB Fund to increase in size not only

from internally generated commissions alone. So

the IRB Fund is not just about the 1.5%

commission.

Furthermore, it states that the IRB Fund could

increase by way of receiving grants from the

Finance Minister. The IRB Fund could also load up

on debt. This really raised the eyebrows of senior

KL bankers that I spoke to. The IRB Fund could also

increase in size by virtue of a catch all phrase of

“all other moneys lawfully received”. In other

words, legally the Minister of Finance can increase

the IRB Fund into the multi-billions.

That is the genius of the amendments, if you slack

off as a lawmaker and just read the actual

amendments, you will miss out the full picture.

The key is to read the whole Act and put in context

these amendments to the current sections. I read

with great alarm that the IRB Fund could be the

next 1MDB by using the existing section 23

combined with the formation of the Investment

Panel and the powers to invest in anything under

the sun.

Look, if the fund is really so small as stated by the

2nd Finance Minister, the Bank Governor will not

get out of bed to attend an Investment Panel

meeting. If the IRB Fund is so small, why go

through the trouble of legislating to create an

Investment Panel, why not just appoint a Chief

Investment Officer in the IRB. Why must the

Finance Minister take the trouble of making sure

he has powers to appointing 6 out of the 7

Investment Panel members? Lastly, if the

amendments are harmless, why did BN withdraw

the bill?

Q. Barisan Nasional has the numbers in Parlimen

Malaysia to vote en bloc to approve any bill or

amendment. Why do you think they held back

from pushing through the amendments to the IRB

Act?

Good question. Yes, BN has more than 51%

majority (they have 60%) and could have easily

pushed it through. What stopped the Finance

Minister? Well I spoke to several BN backbenchers

and urged them to be ready to do the right thing if

push comes to shove. I also spoke to the Public

Accounts Committee members and they were very

concerned.

However Malaysian politics is extremely partisan.

When push comes to shove, even the most

“concerned” backbenchers will vote for the

government. Since I started my term last year, I

have not seen any BN backbenchers ever vote

against the government. No abstention even. Not

even during the vote on the new ISA provisions in

the Prevention of Crime Act (PCA). I remember

vividly how MCA had publicly said that they will

vote against the PCA bill and a few days later, I saw

all of the MCA MPs sheepishly stand to support

the PCA bill. In other words, I don’t think Najib will



give two hoots to what MPs like me think about his

IRB amendments. I also don’t think he cares much

for the views and opinions of his own

Backbenchers.

So, I suspect the real reason why Najib withdrew

this controversial bill must have something to do

with questions raised by international financiers

and rating agencies. PM Najib has proven to react

and retract positions if it has international

repercussions. This matter was picked up by

Malaysian financial papers as well as international

newswires. So when it comes to the international

finance types, he sits up and listens.

Q. Since you’ve been in Parlimen Malaysia, how

many times do you think Barisan Nasional has

pulled back in this way?

I can remember only once. The Prevention of

Crime Act (PCA) was withdrawn when the heat

was on. It was then reintroduced with superficial

amendments in the following Parliamentary

session and was just steamrolled through. So it is

very important that we remain vigilant on this IRB

bill when Parliament sits again in October. We

need to start a solid campaign in September.

After almost a year of serving as Member of Parliament in the Kelana Jaya, I have seen the true depth of urban poverty in my constituency. There are many factors that cause and compound poverty, and with my limited resources there is not much that I can do to make a sustainable impact. We do what we can and hope that our efforts will make a difference in the long term. While in the beginning of my term I decided to discourage giving out welfare payments, I have since changed my policy. Our office has been processing an increasing amount of welfare cases in the last few months. Here are some of the notable cases. Malarvilze is a mother of four with another baby on the way. When we met Malarvilze and her husband, Ramakrishna, they were surviving on Ramakrishna’s salary as a lorry driver of RM 40 a day. They initially came asking if they could get a grant to start a business. We decided to give them RM 300, and pass Ramakrishna’s resume to our

contacts in the Sunway Group. This resulted in Ramakrishna getting a better paying job. One of our constituents also stepped forward to donate school bags and stationery for their four children. Che Su is a mother of three from Desa Mentari. Her eight year old daughter was scheduled to have open heart surgery, and her family was having difficulty bearing the costs. We gave her RM 1,000 to help with the medical costs. Hemawathi is 28, but has a disability that prevents her from walking. She must pull herself on all fours to get around. She is supported by her father who earns RM 1, 000 as a lorry driver, and this is the family’s sole source of income. This family received RM 300 from our allocation. Malikka is unfortunately a typical case in Desa Mentari. She previously worked as a factory worker, and now makes money as a cleaner. Her children are grown up and do not help her with her expenses, and since her husband passed away, she is solely dependent on her income from cleaning houses. She also has difficulty walking after breaking her legs in an accident. We gave her RM 300. Photos of some of the people we have aided are

below.

Welfare Cases



As promised, we held a dialogue session after the

latest parliamentary session, for anyone in Kelana

Jaya who wanted to attend.

The dialogue was held in the Dewan Serbaguna, in

SS5a/15 Kelana Jaya on the 21st

of June.

The dialogue sessions are an opportunity for you

to find out what occurred during the

parliamentary session, what bills or issues were

debated on and to find out from the primary

source where PKR and I stand on issues.

This session we spoke about the Inland Revenue

Board issue, GST and the future of the country

with GST, the Selangor water crisis, the Trans

Pacific Partnership Agreement, and the suspension

YB Surendran from parliament.

Recent Dialogue



WE NEED INTERNS!

Ever wanted to learn more about the

Malaysian Parliamentary process? Curious

to know what your Member of Parliament

does? Join us for an internship. Depending

on your skill set, you can help us with

national policy research, community work,

or both.

You will reserve a small allowance of RM20

a day, and some free lunches. Please send

your CV and cover letter to

[email protected]

Ashley Phun

Ashley recently completed her Pre-University

studies at HELP University and is currently

interning for YB Wong Chen in the hopes of getting

valuable work experience.

Ivor Ng

Ivor Adrian Ng, born in Kuala Lumpur, 1992.

Currently pursuing a law degree in ATC

Interning for YB Wong Chen hoping to serve

Kelana Jaya community

Living life according to Gandhi’s quote -“Be the

change that you wish to see in the world.”

AnnCharlotte Arul

AnnCharlotte is a student at BAC having just

finished her second year of her LLB. She will be

working on research and community development

alongside the other interns

Intern Initiative:

The interns main community outreach project is

with the under privileged kindergarten of Tabika

Perpaduan Pangsapuri Desa in Desa Ria. Their

current plans for the kindergarten involve some

minor renovations inside the classroom and also to

start a library of children’s books for the children.

Interns



10: 7th

April Debating GST in Parliament

Recent Events

6: 27th

January 2014 - Jom shopping for Chinese New Year

7: 7th March 2014 - Community Dialogue

8:11th March 2014 - Attending the sentencing of the late YB Karpal Singh, during his trial for sedition

9: 30th March 2014 – Distributing shopping vouchers to the needy constituents in the low cost flats of Desa Ria

10: 11th April 2014 - At the late YB Karpal Singh's Wake

11: 19th

April 2014 – Pesta Seni Seri Setia

12: 6th

May 2014 – Pakatan Rakyat MPs meet with German ambassdor to discuss Human Rights



MEET YOUR ADUN

YB HANNAH YEOH

Pejabat ADUN Subang Jaya

113A (1st

Floor), Jalan SS14/1

47500 Subang Jaya

Tel: 03-56312768

Fax:03-56312757

Email: www.hannahyeoh.com

Openin g hours:

Monday - Friday : 10am to 5pm

Tuesday nights : 8pm to10pm

YB NIK NAZMI

Pejabat ADUN Sri Setia

10-1 Jalan PJS 10/2

Taman Subang Indah

46000 Petaling Jaya

Tel/Fax: 03 56116324

Email: [email protected]

Opening hours:

Monday – Friday 10am – 5pm

Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan is the Speaker of the Selangor

State Legislative Assembly and State Assemblyman for

Subang Jaya, Selangor.

Hannah won the N31 state seat in the General Elections

2008 as a DAP candidate at the age of 29. She was

elected as the Speaker at the age of 34, making her the

first women and youngest Speaker in Malaysia. She

obtained her Bachelor of Laws from the University of

Tasmania. She is married to Ramachandran M, an IT

entrepreneur. They are now proud parents of two baby

girls Shay Adora Ram and Kayleigh Imani Ram. The

couple is passionate about nation-buildiong and seeks to

inspire Malaysians to play their respective parts in

establishing a righteous nation free from corruption and

racial discrimination.

Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad is the Selangor State Assemblyman

for Seri Setia and deputy Speaker for the Selangor State

Legislative Assembly from PKR. He is also the author of

two books, Moving forward: Malays for the 21st Century

(Mendepani Zaman; Melayu untuk Abad ke-21) and

coming of Age: A decade of Essays 2001-2011.

He achieved his Bachelor or Laws from Kings College in

the University of London.

In the 2008 General Elections, he was elected Selangor

State Assemblyman for Seri Setia as the youngest

candidate in the 12th General Elections.

Nik is married to Imaan, a medical doctor at a

government hospital and they are also proud parents of

their son, Nik IIhan.

http://www.hannahyeoh.com/

mailto:[email protected]



Who do we serve?

All residents of Kelana Jaya

Parliamentary Constituency

Subang Jaya, USJ, PJS5 to 10 (Desa

Mentari), Taman Glenmarie, Kelana

Jaya SS3,SS5, SS7, SS8, SS9

THE WORK AND SERVICES

PROVIDED BY THE OFFICE OF YB

WONG CHEN

What can we do for you?

Parliament:

Raise national issues on your behalf in Parliament

Represent Kelana Jaya on policies and laws and update residents on all national issues

Welfare & Medical:

Apply for welfare aid and increase welfare payments

Apply for medical fee exemptions

Connect with welfare and medical NGOs

Citizenship issues:

Apply for blue IC and issue letter of support

Follow up with JPN and Immigration

P104 Kelana Jaya Newsletter July 2014

Documents

Transcript of P104 Kelana Jaya Newsletter July 2014