Details

November 5, 2020
PETALING JAYA: Of the 500,000 Malaysians reported to suffer from depression in the 2019 National Health and Morbidity Survey, 108,919 were young Malaysians, according to Befrienders KL.

They were between 15 and 24 years old, Befrienders publicity director Ardy Ayadali told FMT.

He also said those aged 28 and below made up 33% of the distress calls Befrienders received last year.

Referring to the current situation, Ardy said older people were experiencing emotional distress because they were working from home or had suffered loss of income.

However, he added, youths were more likely to get depression from the stress of academic and social struggles.

“But the causes of depression are complex,” he said. “In youths, these can include low self-esteem and poor interpersonal skills, which cause them to struggle with relationships with friends and family.”

He said family support played a key role in improving the younger generation’s well-being and he recommended that schools incorporate the topics of self-care, mental health issues and stress-coping skills into the syllabus.

Details

See the source image5 November 2020
Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) melalui Bahagian Keselamatan dan Kualiti Makanan (BKKM) sentiasa memantau produk-produk makanan di pasaran termasuk produk makanan yang disyaki diaduk dengan racun berjadual seperti sildenafil, tadalafil, dexamethasone dan prednisolone.

Hasil pemantauan yang dijalankan oleh BKKM sepanjang tahun 2019 hingga Ogos 2020, didapati sebanyak 21 produk makanan membabitkan 16 jenama daripada sejumlah 849 produk makanan yang dianalisis didapati mengandungi racun berjadual yang dilarang penambahannya dalam makanan.

Di bawah Seksyen 13, Akta Makanan 1983, menyatakan mana-mana orang yang menyediakan atau menjual apa-apa makanan yang ada dalam atau padanya apa-apa bahan yang beracun, merosakkan atau selainnya memudaratkan kesihatan adalah melakukan suatu kesalahan dan apabila disabitkan kesalahan boleh dikenakan denda yang tidak melebihi RM 100,000 atau penjara selama tempoh tidak melebihi 10 tahun atau kedua-duanya.

Tindakan undang-undang telah diambil ke atas pengeluar atau pengedar 4 daripada 16 jenama produk makanan yang tidak mematuhi undang-undang tersebut. Walau bagaimanapun, hasil siasatan yang dijalankan ke atas 12 jenama produk makanan yang lain mendapati nama dan alamat syarikat adalah palsu atau tidak lengkap. Maklumat semua produk makanan tersebut adalah seperti di lampiran.

Details

November 4, 2020 2:25 pm
*Artikel ini dibawa oleh Fomca dengan kerjasama Jawatankuasa Tetap Hal Ehwal Pengguna Selangor

Bermula dari tahun 2011, Gabungan Persatuan-persatuan Pengguna Malaysia (Fomca) merasakan bahawa literasi kewangan harus diberikan keutamaan di dalam agenda nasional.

Maka bulan Oktober adalah sebagai Bulan Literasi Kewangan, di mana kami menggalakkan setiap pengguna harus menilai tahap kewangan mereka dan perlu mengetahui langkah-langkah untuk menguruskan perancangan kewangan dan meningkatkan kemampuan pengurusan kewangan mereka.

Data mengenai tingkah laku kewangan pengguna di Malaysia begitu membimbangkan. Sebanyak enam juta pekerja di kawasan bandar memperoleh gaji di bawah tangga gaji yang dicadangkan oleh Bank Negara Malaysia yang ditakrifkan sebagai gaji minimum oleh pengguna untuk menjalani taraf hidup yang bersesuaian.

Malah, simpanan mereka juga rendah. Dilaporkan bahawa 88 peratus isi rumah di Malaysia tidak mempunyai simpanan, sementara 62 peratus pengguna dilaporkan tidak mempunyai simpanan cukup.

Details

Rabu, 4 November 2020 @ 9:38 AM
Taiping: Seorang pesara swasta kerugian lebih RM1 juta (RM1,177,950) selepas lelaki warga emas itu ditipu dalam pelaburan emas yang tidak wujud.

Ketua Polis Daerah Taiping Asisten Komisioner Osman Mamat berkata, lelaki berusia 60 tahun itu mendakwa berurusan dengan seorang wanita warga Singapura yang dikenali menerusi aplikasi janji temu dalam talian, OKCUPID, dan menawarkan pelaburan emas yang dikenali sebagai Alpha Tradex.

Beliau berkata, mangsa memasukkan wang secara berperingkat ke dalam lapan akaun yang diberikan oleh suspek bagi tujuan pelaburan emas berkenaan.

"Hasil pelaburan yang ditawarkan oleh suspek kononnya boleh mendapat keuntungan mencecah US$2,712,477.41 (RM11,278,353.54).

"Pengadu ingin menunaikan wang keuntungan itu dan diberikan satu resit transaksi kemasukan wang ke dalam akaun pengadu," katanya dalam kenyataan di sini, hari ini.

Details

Moratorium: Tunggu Jumaat ini - Abd RahimNovember 4, 2020 11:20 MYT
KUALA LUMPUR: Keputusan sama ada kerajaan akan melanjutkan pelaksanaan moratorium atau tidak akan diketahui Jumaat ini.
Demikian kata Timbalan Menteri Kewangan I, Datuk Abd Rahim Bakri.

"Pada Jumaat ini kita ada pembentangan Belanjawan 2021, jadi untuk mengetahui sama ada inisiatif itu dilaksanakan kena tunggu Jumaat ini," katanya ketika menjawab soalan tambahan Datuk Salim Sharif (BN-Jempol) di Dewan Rakyat pada Rabu.

Dalam pada itu, Abd Rahim (Bersatu - Kudat) ketika menjawab soalan tambahan Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub (PH - Pulai) berhubung pemberian projek runding terus melalui Pakej Rangsangan Ekonomi yang diumumkan ketika pandemik COVID-19 memberitahu, beliau tidak mempunyai sebagai maklumat mengenai perkara itu.

"Dalam pakej yang dilaksanakan itu, saya tidak ada maklumat adakah ia diberi secara runding terus," ujarnya.

Dalam perkembangan lain, beliau berkata kerajaan menjangkakan unjuran Keluaran Dalam Negara Kasar (KDNK) akan berkembang sebanyak 5.5 peratus sehingga 5.8 peratus pada tahun 2021.

Details

November 4, 2020 9:45 AM
PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya has been urged to provide additional forms of social protection to single mothers and disabled persons in low-income areas following a study showing they are the slowest to recover from the movement control order (MCO) because many of them cannot get government aid.

According to a recent Unicef report, income in general was inching towards 2019 levels in the areas the agency surveyed but women and the disabled were still making far less money than they used to.

The two groups were also the most likely to be without any kind of savings, the report said.

A spokesman for the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM) told FMT single mothers in low-income areas faced unique challenges that the government needed to address.

“We encounter many women who have been left by their husbands,” she said. “However, they are still legally married.”

She noted that the government recognised only divorced and widowed women as single mothers and called for less rigidity in determining eligibility for aid.

Details

November 3, 2020 8:00 AM
With the various Movement Control Orders that have been in place since March, Malaysians are spending a lot of time at home, which means electricity consumption has gone up as well.

Here are some tips to control electricity usage and keep those TNB bills down.

1. Natural lighting
Why pay for electric light when you can use natural light for free during the daytime?

Open up the curtains and switch off the lights, especially if it is sunny outside.

If you are blinded by the bright sunlight hang a sheer curtain to reduce the glare and heat.

2. Take shorter showers
A long, relaxing hot shower is nice, but it also increases the electricity bill. Your water bill will be up there too.

Using a water heater can be high in energy consumption, so the longer the shower, the higher the power bill.

Details

Malaysiakini3 Oktober 2020 l 12.05pm
LETTER | There is no escaping our evolution into a cashless society. The notion that all transactions can be executed digitally is becoming more realistic day by day.

Covid-19 has accelerated the move away from physical cash, with growing concerns over transmittal of viruses and diseases.

A cashless society breeds a new era for financial transactions. Key benefits should include: lower crime rates, less money laundering, easier foreign transacting and reduced risks and costs.

The term, cashless society, itself appears ubiquitous and denotes a concept so pervasive and entrenched in our society. However, this is far from reality.

Economic inequality and inclusivity are fundamental issues still present worldwide. A cashless society might actually exacerbate these problems. The unbanked and poor could face significant challenges with digital modes of payment.

According to the World Bank, there are over 1.7 billion unbanked adults globally. China, Indonesia and India account for over 30 percent of this number, with the majority of these being females.

In fact, a huge proportion of the unbanked view the cashless movement as a discriminatory act against those without bank accounts. Perhaps, ideologically, we are running before walking to facilitate this cashless utopia.

Details

What is financial literacy?3 Nov 2020, 5:25 pm
Since 2011, when Fomca strongly felt that financial literacy should be given priority on the national agenda, it declared October as the Financial Literacy Month, whereby at least during this month, every consumer should evaluate his financial health as well as take measures to enhance his financial planning and management capabilities.

The data on the financial behaviour of Malaysian consumers are worrying. Incomes are low. Six million workers in urban areas earn below the living wage as proposed by Bank Negara Malaysia which it defines as the minimum wage that consumers need to live a minimum acceptable standard of living.

Savings are low. It was reported that 88 percent of Malaysian households reported zero savings while 62 percent of consumers reported that they have not saved enough.

Household debts are high. In 2019, household debt to gross domestic product (GDP) was 82.7 percent. A high household debt often means that households are vulnerable to financial shocks. At the micro-level, 47 percent of Malaysian consumers are classified as excessively over-indebted, that is their debt payments are more than 30 percent of their income.

Further, a study on young workers reported that 37 percent were spending more than they earn. Thus Malaysian consumers were having low incomes, low savings and high debts.

Details

Covid challenge: Bank Negara is projecting a GDP contraction of 3.5% to 5.5% this year. The household debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to rise to around 90% this year from 82.7% in 2019, according to an economist.Monday, 02 Nov 2020
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s household debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio, which is the second highest in Asia, is expected to rise and be at the 88% to 90% range by year-end in anticipation of the country’s economic contraction.

The ratio denotes total household borrowings as a proportion of the size of the economy measured by the GDP, which is the total value of goods and services produced in the economy in a year.

Despite the slower growth in debt, the household debt-to-GDP ratio rose above its previous peak of 86.9% in 2015 to 87.5% as of June 2020, which was mainly due to the sharp contraction in nominal GDP in the second quarter.

Malaysia’s household debt to GDP is among the highest in Asia and has exceeded those of several high-income nations, including the United States and Japan.

The country’s household debt to GDP last year stood at 82.7% against 82% in 2018. It peaked at 86.9% in 2015.

The GDP in the second quarter saw a contraction of 17.1% year-on-year, which was the worst since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.

  1. FOMCA minta Prihatin diteruskan
  2. Selangor to amend laws for harsher punishment of river polluters
  3. Dire situation for low-income families, worse for female-led households, says Unicef
  4. It's more income, not financial literacy that the poor need
  5. Poor mental health, disrupted education main post-MCO challenges, says Unicef
  6. Shoppers laud RM1 plastic bag fee
  7. When the tide goes out: Challenges of the water industry
  8. TNB komited terhadap kelestarian tenaga hijau untuk masa depan yang mampan
  9. Masih boleh mohon tangguh bayaran pinjaman - BNM
  10. Kadar inflasi September susut 1.4 peratus