12 May, 2008
Think about it. Zakat is mandatory under Islam. So you will be fulfilling your Islamic duty plus you will be helping the five Pakatan Rakyat states plus you will be denying Umno that money. That’s killing three birds with one stone.
THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
Raja Petra Kamarudin
Are you aware that the Umno spin machine is now headed by that criminal with two Muhammads in his name? This is that man who escaped a money-smuggling rap because he somehow managed to convince the Australian court he speekee no Ingleesh. And he is certainly very convincing considering he managed to convince the late Agong that he did not marry His Majesty’s daughter in spite of her walking around with a bulging stomach with a baby kicking inside.
And are you also aware that a ruling was subsequently made that the court that acquitted this new Information Chief of Umno had erred? Fortunately for Muhammad son of Muhammad, the prosecutor was not able to appeal the verdict or else Interpol would have been asked to arrest this man who now heads the effort to wrest Selangor back from the opposition and bring him back to Australia for a retrial. Never mind the Australian court acquitted him of the charge. The subsequent ruling says that the court had erred. So on record Muhammad son of Muhammad is technically guilty although he was mistakenly acquitted.
The details of the error of the Australian court are as follows:
Australian Judge Erred In Case Of Malaysian Politician
An Australian judge made legal errors in directing a jury which acquitted a top Malaysian politician of Australian currency law breaches involving foreign cash worth A$1.3 million, a superior court ruled Tuesday.
The ruling won't have any effect on the politician's acquittal because under Australian law an acquittal cannot be appealed and a person cannot be tried again on a charge of which they have been acquitted.
Muhammad Muhammad Taib, 52, was acquitted by a Queensland state District Court jury in May this year on one count of knowingly making a false currency report when entering Australia on Dec. 16, 1996, and another of failing to declare currency when leaving six days later. (Source: AP, 13 October 1998)
THE CASE REPORT
SUPREME COURT OF QUEENSLAND
C.A. No. 219 of 1998.
Brisbane
Before Pincus J.A.
Thomas J.A.
Ambrose J.
[R v. Taib ; ex parte Cth DPP]
THE QUEEN
v.
MUHAMMAD BIN MUHAMMAD TAIB
REFERENCE BY COMMONWEALTH DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
PURSUANT TO SECTION 669A OF THE CRIMINAL CODE
Judgment delivered 13 October 1998
Separate reasons for judgment of each member of the Court; each concurring as to the orders made.
THE REFERENCE TO BE ANSWERED AS FOLLOWS:
1. THE LEARNED TRIAL JUDGE WAS CORRECT IN HIS RULING THAT IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH THE REQUISITE KNOWLEDGE OR MENS REA FOR AN OFFENCE AGAINST S.15(1) OF THE FINANCIAL TRANSACTION REPORTS ACT 1988 (CTH) THE PROSECUTION MUST PROVE THE ELEMENTS -
(I) THAT HE (THE ACCUSED) KNEW THAT HE HAD IN HIS POSSESSION $5,000 OR MORE;
(II) THAT HE KNEW THAT HE HAD TRANSFERRED THE CASH OUT OF AUSTRALIA;
(III) THAT HE KNEW THAT HE HAD NOT REPORTED THAT TRANSFER.
2. THE LEARNED TRIAL JUDGE WAS NOT CORRECT IN HIS RULING THAT IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH THE REQUISITE KNOWLEDGE OR MENS REA FOR AN OFFENCE AGAINST S.15(1) OF THE FINANCIAL TRANSACTION REPORTS ACT THE PROSECUTION MUST ALSO PROVE -
(I) THAT THE ACCUSED KNEW THAT THERE WAS AN OBLIGATION TO REPORT SUCH TRANSFER OF $5,000 OR MORE.
3. IT WAS NOT NECESSARY FOR THE PROSECUTION TO PROVE THAT THE ACCUSED KNEW THAT THERE WAS ANY OBLIGATION WHETHER IMPOSED BY THE FINANCIAL TRANSACTION REPORTS ACT OR OTHERWISE, TO REPORT SUCH TRANSFER OF $5,000.
(Read the full report here)
So there you have it. The man with two Muhammads in his name may have been mistakenly acquitted but the second ruling says that THE LEARNED TRIAL JUDGE WAS NOT CORRECT IN HIS RULING.
Anyway, back to the issue of the effort to wrest Selangor back from the opposition, have you noticed that Selangor appears not as clean as before the 8 March 2008 general election? Is this because the new Pakatan Rakyat government is not as efficient as Khir Toyo’s Barisan Nasional government? Not really. It’s because there are serious efforts to sabotage the new state government to give an appearance that it is not efficient.
We must not forget that the companies that are enjoying the 25-30 year privatisation contracts for the road maintenance, water treatment plants, rubbish collection, road sweeping, etc., are all Umno-owned or Umno crony-companies. It goes without saying that they would go all out to sabotage the road maintenance, water supply, road sweeping, rubbish collection, etc., just so that this can give the Pakatan Rakyat government a bad name and erode the voters’ confidence in the new government. Is this a seditious statement? I hope so!
If these companies continue with their evil deed, which will burden the tax-paying Rakyat from whom they are earning their money, then I am going to propose that we start a petition calling for the Selangor State Government to cancel their contracts and re-tender out the jobs on a non-negotiated, open tender basis. Who knows, the government might even get much lower bids, thereby saving hundreds of millions of the taxpayers’ money, the money which could be put to good use elsewhere.
To Muhammad son of Muhammad and all those companies such as Alam Flora, Puncak Niaga, etc., consider this your last warning. You fool around and don’t repair our roads, clean our streets, or empty our dustbins, then we, the Rakyat, are going to launch a Petisyen Rakyat (Citizen’s Petition) to cancel all your contracts. Then we shall demand that an open tender be called and we shall also demand that the tender documents be opened at the Shah Alam Stadium so that tens of thousands of Rakyat can witness the tendering process.
I guarantee you, by doing this the Selangor State government can save hundreds of millions, maybe even a billion Ringgit, a year. Then you will no longer need any money from the Federal Government. And since the Federal Government is not going to give the five Pakatan Rakyat states any money anyway, this works out just fine for us.
In that same spirit, I urge all Muslims to pay their zakat and fitrah in any one of the five Pakatan Rakyat states. Are you aware that you can pay zakat in lieu of your income tax? And you can request that your salary be deducted monthly and the money be sent to the state zakat office instead of to the IRD. No, it is not exemption from tax like if you were to donate to a tax-exempt charity. It is zakat in lieu of tax. That means when you pay zakat you need not pay income tax.
Say you have to pay RM1,000 income tax per month on your salary (or RM12,000 per year if you pay annually). You just pay the money to the zakat office instead and send the receipt to the IRD and consider your income tax fully paid.
Why do this? Well, when you pay to the IRD, the money goes to the Federal Government and Umno will use the money. But when you pay zakat the state gets to keep the money and in the five Pakatan Rakyat states for sure Umno will not be able to get its hands on the money.
Think about it. Zakat is mandatory under Islam. So you will be fulfilling your Islamic duty plus you will be helping the five Pakatan Rakyat states plus you will be denying Umno that money. That’s killing three birds with one stone.
Okay, zakat is only 2.5% of your wealth (zakat harta) or income (zakat pendapatan) while income tax is higher. So, pay the higher figure. After all, you will have to pay it anyway whether you pay zakat or income tax. And imagine how many poor and destitute people, the homeless, students who need financial aid or scholarships, orphans, single mothers, old folks who can’t work, handicapped people, etc., can be helped with this zakat money.
Currently, Selangor collects about RM200-250 million a year or about RM20 million per month. I estimate that with Kelantan, Penang, Kedah and Perak included, this should easily touch about RM1 billion or so a year. If we double that to RM2 billion, many poor and destitute people, the homeless, students who need financial aid or scholarships, orphans, single mothers, old folks who can’t work, handicapped people, etc., would receive help. And since the Federal Government will not help these people until these five states go back to Barisan Nasional, let us, the Rakyat, help them instead. And all we are doing is helping them from money we would have to pay anyway because if we don’t pay zakat then the IRD will sapu the money to pay for submarines and jet fighters.
I call upon all readers to start a PAY YOUR ZAKAT IN THE FIVE PAKATAN RAKYAT STATES campaign. Speak to your family and friends. Spread the word far and wide. Let’s aim to collect RM2 billion in zakat money for Kelantan, Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor (but not in Kuala Lumpur though). RM2 billion will go a long way into helping the poor and destitute people, the homeless, students who need financial aid or scholarships, orphans, single mothers, old folks who can’t work, handicapped people, etc.
Do this for the five Pakatan Rakyat states. Do this for Islam. Do this for God. Do this for the poor and destitute people, the homeless, students who need financial aid or scholarships, orphans, single mothers, old folks who can’t work, handicapped people, etc. Then shout out loud: WE DON’T NEED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MONEY. WE, THE RAKYAT, CAN TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES.
Sheesh, what happened to the Federation of Malaya which Selangor joined on 31 August 1957? Are we part of Malaysia or what? Oops…..sedition.
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