WanSaiful.com

Personal thoughts of Wan Saiful Wan Jan

July 6, 2010 • 1:08 pm 0

Gaji Minima: Adakah ia cara terbaik membantu golongan miskin?

Anda semua  dijemput untuk turut serta / You are cordially invited.

Tempat: Auditorium, Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (Depan stesen monorel Maharajalela)

Tarikh: Ahad, 11 Julai 2010

Masa: 10.00 pagi – 12.00 tengahari

Saban tahun, kenaikan kos hidup tanpa henti menambah berat beban yang dipikul oleh keluarga miskin. Gaji pula masih di takat lama, makin bertambah berat beban hidup sedia ada. Maka kedengaran suara memperkenalkan undang-undang gaji minima bagi membantu golongan miskin.

Undang-undang ini mewajibkan para majikan membayar gaji pekerja pada kadar lebih tinggi dari biasa. Alasan yang biasa diberikan ialah untuk membantu golongan miskin. Tetapi persoalanya adakah gaji minima cara yang berkesan untuk mengurangkan kemiskinan?

Ratusan kajian mengenai gaji minima sudah dijalankan di pelbagai negara menunjukkan gaji minima adalah pendekatan yang lemah. Jika benar gaji minima adalah pendekatan yang lemah, apakah alternatif-alternatif yang ada untuk membantu keluarga miskin?

Silalah hadir ke forum terbuka ini untuk mendengari pelbagai pendapat mengenai gaji minima. Dan jika anda ingin menyuarakan pendapat anda sendiri mengenai gaji minima, forum terbuka ini adalah platform untuk anda bersuara. Kehadiran adalah percuma.

Para Penceramah:

  • Khalid Jaafar, Pengarah Institut Kajian Dasar (IKD)
  • Tuan Haji Shamsuddin Bardan, Setiausaha Agung, Malaysian Employers Federation
  • Dr Lee Chee Sung, Pengarah Eksekutif (Ekonomi) Majlis Penasihat Ekonomi Negara (NEAC). Kehadiran Dr Lee adalah atas kapasiti peribadi.
  • Wan Saiful Wan Jan (Ketua Eksekutif IDEAS)

Acara ini dianjurkan oleh Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), sebuah badan pemikir rentas parti yang dilancarkan oleh YBM Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah pada 8 Februari 2010, sempena tarikh lahir Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj. Berpegang dengan visi Tunku Abdul Rahman untuk melihat Malaysia kekal sebagai sebuah negara berdaulat ynag berpaksikan kebebasan dan keadilan, IDEAS mempromosikan prinsip-prinsip kedaulatan undang-undang, kerajaan terhad, pasaran bebas dan individu merdeka. Maklumat lanjut mengenai IDEAS boleh diperolehi daripada laman web IDEAS

Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, Malaysia, Politics

June 28, 2010 • 1:44 pm 1

Selangor PKR: Joceline Tan is wrong

Joceline Tan is wrong in this article.

What PKR has done in Selangor is not just good governance, but also visionary. By separating the party from the state in Selangor, PKR has leapt ahead of other parties. The party administration must be separate from the state administration. These two serve different roles. They must not be mixed.

It is unfortunate that the changes were actually made by PKR out of necessity, not because of principle. The challenge now therefore is to see if the new Selangor PKR chief will stay out of the affairs of the state.

The role of PKR Selangor, now led by Azmin Ali, must be to strengthen the PR administration of Selangor under Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. Azmin must sedar diri and realise that he is there to strengthen Tan Sri Khalid. If Azmin instead weakens Tan Sri Khalid, then it is Azmin who does not understand his role.

Filed under: Malaysia, Politics

June 25, 2010 • 8:10 pm 2

Khalid Ibrahim and his enemies

News of attempts to remove Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim from being the chief minister of Selangor is circling again. This is most unfortunate. See here for example.

I like Khalid’s agenda to separate party from state. Allowing party matters to influence state administration has done much damage to Malaysian democracy. And I bet it has contributed a lot to the spread of corruption in the country too.

But what is more worrying to me is the fact that the group trying to topple him is made up of federal parliamentarians and party leaders from the national level. This is interference into state matters. This is another example of how we in Malaysia have forgotten what “federalism” means. People at federal level should not interfere into state matters. Let the people in Selangor decide the fate of Selangor.

If this continues to happen in PKR, then they are no different from other parties who also ignore the true spirit of federalism.

Filed under: Malaysia, Politics,

April 29, 2010 • 10:21 pm 0

Brown’s going down

This must be one of the worst election disasters ever!

Filed under: Britain, Politics

April 16, 2010 • 1:05 pm 1

Tea Party Rally

There was a Tea Party rally in DC today.

A few people I know was there. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to join them.

Shame. It would have been a very good experience.

Filed under: Freedom & Liberty,

April 14, 2010 • 11:00 pm 0

Cheaper iPads and Nike Shoes!!!

The campaign below was part of my think tank MBA project. I am no longer doing this.

—

I was in Washington DC last week and was shocked to see that prices of items there are more expensive than in Virginia, which is just a short drive away (I am in Virginia now). Washington DC imposes a higher sales tax than in Virginia, resulting in higher prices for us, consumers.

A friend was on vacation in Delaware not long ago and he told me prices there are even cheaper than both Washington DC and Virginia because there is NO SALES TAX there!

Please have a look at the attached file.

An iPad in DC costs US$529, but only US$519 in Virgina and US$499 in Delaware. Sales Tax in DC makes an iPad more expensive for consumers.

A pair of Nike Air shoes in DC costs US$196, but only US$192 in Virginia and US$182 in Delaware. Again, Sales Tax in DC makes them more expensive.

But Washington DC is where many people live and they want to buy things without having to drive 3 hours to Delaware. Why should they be penalized for living, working or just visiting the nation’s capital?

So a group of friends and I have started a campaign to call for a lower sales tax in DC.

If you believe you deserve a lower sales tax and cheaper items, please sign our petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?lowtaxDC

Join our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lower-Tax-in-DC/117344998282973

Visit our website: http://lowtaxdc.wordpress.com/petition/

Join us in this campaign to lower sales tax in DC. A lower sales tax benefits everyone. We need your help to make prices in DC cheaper. Lower tax is good for us because it means we can save our money for other items. Lower tax is good for DC too because it will enable DC to attract more consumers therefore boosting its economy.

To support the campaign for wider tax reform, visit: http://www.atr.org/

Filed under: Freedom & Liberty, , ,

April 14, 2010 • 1:07 pm 0

Remembering Watergate scandal

I read about the Watergate Scandal – the scandal that ended Nixon’s presidency – many many years ago. Well, this evening I had the pleasure of having dinner at one of the penthouses in the Watergate Complex. The view from the top floor is simply breathtaking.

Rooftop of Watergate East. To the right is famous office complex.

Gossip of the night: Monica Lewinsky lived in the building to the left.

Filed under: Personal

April 12, 2010 • 2:55 am 2

Capitalist vs Socialist, and Maslow’s Hierarchy

How come left-leaning (read: socialist) organisations are usually more successful than free-market ones? In our discussion today, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs was suggested as one way to answer the question.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Left-leaning organisations focus more on issues at the bottom of the hiearchy. For example, they talk about eradicating poverty which falls into the very base of Maslow’s triangle (physiological needs).

On the other hand, many free-market organisations folow the Hayek-Fisher tradition and deal with mainly intellectual issues, which is right at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy.

As a result, socialists get a much wider audience whereas we capitalists attract relatively much smaller number.

Solution: try to talk more about how market ideas can fulfill the basic needs.

Filed under: Freedom & Liberty

April 11, 2010 • 11:12 am 0

What am I? by John Stossel

This is a good article.

John Stossel briefly touches on why it is not ‘cruel’ to say that the government should not provide welfare (because the government creates more problem when they try to do it)

Filed under: Personal

April 10, 2010 • 11:11 am 0

Of consumption tax (read GST if in Malaysia)

While thinking about whether or not to buy an iPad today, I realised that I wasn’t just thinking about whether or not to buy, but also where to buy.

The question that came to my head was, “since I will be traveling to Virginia, Washington DC and Florida, where will be the cheapest place to buy one, if I decided to go ahead and buy?”.

Prices here vary because different states have different rates for sales tax. That is one benefit of fiscal decentralisation – states can compete to attract consumers.

Malaysian states should demand this right in the debate about GST.

Filed under: Malaysia,

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