So, I would like to invite everyone – including you – to join the “1 dalam Sejuta” campaign in order for me to identify the lucky friend. All you have to do is go to my Facebook Page now to sign up.

Do share this with your family and friends too! If your invited friend becomes the selected winner, you may stand a chance to come along too as their guest. I look forward to your participation.

The Malaysian economy is experiencing high rate of growth and it is vital that my government endeavours to provide a solid and reliable infrastructure to match this growth. That’s why we have included the “Urban Public Transport” as one of the National Key Result Area (NKRA), seeking to improve infrastructure in Urban areas.

The Urban Public Transport NKRA has two objectives: to reduce congestion, and to increase public transport usage. Various measures have been adapted to achieve these goals. For a start, new Bus Expressway Transit (BET) routes were introduced to shorten bus journey times. On top of increasing the RapidKL buses fleet, new four-coaches sets were purchased to top up the Kelana Jaya LRT Line and 38 new six-coach EMU Trains to the KTM Komuter service.

Besides, a fully air-conditioned, 562-metre long, five-metre wide elevated walkway was recently opened, connecting busy areas of Jalan Pinang, Jalan Perak and Jalan Raja Chulan with escalator and staircase entry and exit points at strategic locations, forming a major portion of 1.173 km of pedestrian linkages connecting KLCC to Bukit Bintang. The public can now travel on foot to Bukit Bintang and Raja Chulan Monorail Station, as well as KLCC LRT station.

We also improved the ticketing system for both buses and LRT so lining up for one would be quicker. We even revamped the existing Pudu Sentral terminal to offer modern world class facilities as well as provide an additional station: the ITT (Integrated Transport Terminal) Bandar Tasik Selatan which diverted 500 buses, making traffic in the central business district lighter.

So far, the results have been promising. As of the end of last year, the number of people who rode on buses increased to 4million and increased over 10 million on the Kelana Jaya LRT Line. The load factor for buses, KTMs and LRTs are now more balanced, with more people taking the bus and KTMs and LRTs being less crowded. The road fatality count went down between 2010 and 2011, and customer satisfaction with public transport went up to 53%.

Although much has been done so far to reach our goal of a more efficient and less frustrating traffic system, we must continue working to keep up with our economic growth. So this year there will be more bus lanes, more six-car sets for the KTM Komuter, more upgrade works at LRT and KTM Komuter stations, more parking bays and a new ITT in Gombak.

As public transport becomes more accessible and efficient for Malaysians, I hope to decrease reliance on private transportation and promote a positive attitude toward public transportation. I hope to have the opportunity to carry out all of our plans – so that in the near future I will see less and less tweets and Facebook comments about transport!

We discussed all sorts of things over nasi lemak, ubi kayu rebus and telur separuh masak. We talked about Malaysia, football, and food – including how ubi kayu became a staple food during the Japanese occupation. My breakfast companions had all the best traits of the upcoming generation of Malaysians, with their sense of optimism and their determination to make the most of the peace and prosperity we enjoy in our country.

A special guest I was particularly pleased to meet was 15 year old student Mr Anwaruddin from Hartamas – my 500,000th Twitter follower. He shared with me his passion for mountain biking, and asked me how I maintain a healthy lifestyle. I told him that I have a fitness regime that I apply, and I even do some exercises when travelling, including during my flights! It was encouraging to hear how important sports is to his life – I hope that this passion is shared by many of his fellow students.

Overall it was a pleasurable meet up and I am looking forward to engage further with my social media friends – be it online or offline. It was particularly significant for me as I hit 1 million Facebook “likes” two days before the breakfast. I would like to thank the over 500,000 followers on Twitter and 1 million Facebook users for helping to make this possible. As someone who values social media engagement as an important way to connect with the rakyat, I’m truly grateful for your continued support and feedback. If you have any ideas for future initiatives like this I would be very happy to hear them either in the blog comments or on Twitter and Facebook.

For the first time in Malaysian history, workers will soon be entitled to a minimum of RM800-900 a month, depending on their location. This will affect over 33.8% of workers who currently earn less than RM700 a month.

In principle, I am clear that this is the right thing to do. The minimum range was decided after taking into consideration several factors as proposed by the World Bank such as cost of living, poverty line index and unemployment rate, and will be reviewed every two years to account for any changes.

In practice, however, we do have to carefully consider the correct balance between guaranteeing workers a decent wage and encouraging employers to hire workers. Some international studies indicate that higher minimum wage can potentially affect demand for workers, especially youths lacking experience.

My government is determined to ease this transition for the greater good of the country. In calculating this minimum wage, we have taken into consideration the need to maintain overseas investment in our country – which provides needed capital for generating jobs.

We are also creating more and more job opportunities through the Economical transformation Programme (ETP) in various industries such as tourism, wholesale and retail. We are targeting to create 3.3 million jobs by the end of the next decade. In the meantime, I also encourage Malaysians to keep tuned to the ETP to find out which industries they can look towards for more opportunities.

This is a day for recognising the role played by our workers, and I’m confident that this new policy will benefit many workers across the country.  Happy Labour Day.

[Click here] to read my speech announcing the minimum wage.

As of 2010, Buddhists make up 19.8% of the Malaysian population. All over the country, devotees celebrate the birth, enlightenment and achievement of nirvana of Gautama Buddha, offering prayers and to participate in beautiful processions. The symbolic pouring of water over the Prince Siddhārtha statue by practitioners will also be carried out in temples all over the country.

Regardless of race, ethnicity or background, we are all bound by the same positive values through the various religions that we follow. As long as we continue building the foundations of understanding based on these common principles, we can avoid conflict and continue to flourish as a multi religious community to benefit the needs of all.

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh, Salam Sejahtera dan Salam 1 Malaysia

Para pekerja Malaysia,

Alhamdulillah, marilah kita memanjat kesyukuran ke hadrat Ilahi, atas limpah kurniaNya dapat kita berhimpun dalam Majlis yang penuh bersejarah pada malam ini.

Terlebih dahulu saya ingin mengambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan selamat Menyambut Hari Pekerja 2012 kepada seluruh warga pekerja Malaysia. Sesungguhnya kejayaan Malaysia semalam, hari ini dan hari muka tidak mungkin tercipta tanpa sumbangan dan jasa Tuan-Tuan dan Puan-Puan para pekerja Malaysia.

Saya bagi pihak kerajaan dan rakyat ingin merakamkan penghargaan dan ucapan terima kasih di atas segala budi dan jasa lebih 12 juta warga pekerja Malaysia yang telah bersama-sama berusaha gigih untuk merealisasikan wawasan nasional ke arah Malaysia sebagai sebuah negara maju berpendapatan tinggi menjelang tahun 2020.

Read more…

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh, Selamat Petang dan Salam Satu Malaysia.

1. Terlebih dahulu saya ingin merakamkan penghargaan dan terima kasih kepada semua pihak yang hadir pada hari ini. Bersyukur kita ke hadrat Illahi kerana dengan berkat and limpah kurnia-Nya dapat kita bersama di Majlis ini yang merupakan satu lagi inisiatif yang diambil oleh pihak Kerajaan untuk meneruskan program transformasi negara ini.
2. It is my pleasure to be present today for the launch of the Talent Roadmap 2020. The talent agenda is one very close to my heart as I truly believe that talent is the key ingredient to our success as a nation. Our people define our country. Malaysia is what it is because of you, my fellow Malaysians.

Read more…

As a responsible Prime Minister, I must never allow people like the folks in Kampung Bantal to be left out from the country’s development. The “Cost of Living” NKRA is thus my way of making sure that the Rakyat’s bread and butter issues are taken care of.

Under this NKRA, various measures are introduced to assist the people, particularly the poor and working class in easing their financial burden. From 2010 to 2011, the government spent a total of RM36.7 billion in providing various forms of assistance to the Rakyat, with subsidies given to maintain the price of RON 95 petrol at RM1.90 per litre, cooking gas, sugar, and other necessities.

Also, I’ve announced a one-off financial aid package (or more commonly known as Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia, BR1M) of RM 500 each, for households earning RM3,000 and below. As many as 4.78 million households have benefitted from the aid. The goal is to help the poor and working class, like the hardworking folks in Kampung Bantal who earn below RM800, to cope with increasing cost of living.

For parents with schooling children, I took note of your concern and have distributed RM100 aid per schooling child to mitigate their “back to school” expenses. That’s RM530 million channeled back to the Rakyat. Other innovative measures, such as the Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia (KR1M) and 1Malaysia Clinics were also launched under the Cost of Living NKRA.

Hardworking Malaysians should not be punished by the escalating cost of living. Therefore my Government, while working hard to ensure persistent economic growth, will not compromise the interest of the poor and the working class. I will do whatever is best in tackling rising costs and find ways to reduce its effects on the people through the transformation process. Stay with me, and lets work hand in hand to transform the country to a greater height!

Recently the price of Crude Oil rose as a result of political instability in the Middle East. With that in mind the government had to decide swiftly on whether to allow the price to rise following the market rate like most of our neighbouring countries, or to subsidise the RON 95, maintaining it at the present rate of RM 1.90 per litre.

I cling to the principle that the Rakyat’s interest always takes priority in the government’s decision making process. Transportation costs make up a considerable proportion of the Rakyat’s daily expenses, particularly for the urbanites. Therefore the onus is on us, the Government to slow down and manage the ever escalating fuel cost, without jeopardising other budgeted expenditures on development.

To maintain the RON 95 at its current rate, the government increased petrol subsidy by almost 10%. On top of the tabled supplementary budget proposed by the government, the government will have to work harder to increase both domestic and foreign investment through the Economic Transformation Programme, in order to balance off the expenditure in long run, as well as to enlarge the revenue base of the Government.

At the same time, the world economy is experiencing recession, mainly attributed to the Euro zone crisis and the USA. It is my incumbent duty to mitigate the impact of such global downturn on Malaysians, as well as to maintain persistent economic growth at the same time. The Government always accords paramount consideration when it comes to subsidy policies on RON 95 petrol, because it affects the Rakyat’s daily expenses.

Inevitably, the long term solution to this problem of escalating petrol price, is to reduce dependency on petrol. The Government is working hard on improving the public transport system to provide a better public transport alternative to private vehicle users. To date, 38 new sets of EMUs six-carriage commuter trains have been purchased under the Urban Public Transport NKRA to improve the KTM commuter services. The 2-coach Kelana Jaya LRT is now supplemented with new fleets of 4-coach multiple units, and rail track extensions are also on the process. Long-distance travellers can also make use of the new double tracked ETS train services which now runs from Seremban to Ipoh, and to Penang and Perlis in the near future.

In conclusion, the government must work hand in hand with the Rakyat to properly manage the issue of petrol dependency. While the government endeavours to ensure affordable fuel price and improve the public transportation, we also seek for your support and understanding. For that I thank you.

I particularly enjoyed touring the Malaysian campus of Nottingham University, where I spoke alongside Mr Cameron at a Global Movement of Moderates event. He said he was delighted to visit the campus of my alma mater and speak in support of the GMM, and so was I – especially with so many international students in attendance.

Mr Cameron has spoken memorably about “muscular liberalism” – and I agree with him that being moderate is not the same as being a wimp!  It is for all of us as moderates, Muslims, Christians, Jews and atheists alike, to demonstrate this muscularity and use our unity and strength to defeat intolerance and stay true to the path of moderation.

That is our common path – a path that, here in Malaysia, has seen the colonial-era Internal Security Act replaced with new civil liberties and freedoms, and that in the UK heralded the end of decades of conflict and strife in Northern Ireland. Those are also our common values – values, it must be said, that were forged in Britain’s world class education system.

But if Britain and Malaysia are united in our values, we are equally united in our commitment to increasing prosperity, raising living standards and building open, outward-facing economies. Ever since the East India Company opened its first base in the region in Penang more than 200 years ago, Malaysia’s trade links with the UK have been strong – and I’m confident that they will get much stronger after our renewed commitment this week.

Economically, culturally, politically, our bilateral relationship has not only stood the test of time, it has flourished down the years – from the days of my father to the place where, more than 50 years later, we find ourselves today. We should celebrate these historic ties, both big and small, between our nations and to renew them for our times.