WHAT IS IT TO BE A TRULY MALAYSIAN

Introduction

Now, Malaysia has achieved the 55^th Independence ceremony. The freedom of Malaysia is not quite the same as different nations. It was a smooth independence complete by holding talks with the British. On 31 August 1957, United Kingdom gives independence to Malaysia. Independence Day means a day to celebrate the dignity and freedom of being a Malaysia.

Multi-Racial Culture

I am proud to be Malaysian is because there are multi-racial culture. Malaysian is a multi-racial country. There are few types of race and religion in Malaysia. For instance, Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh and numerous indigenous people. Growing in a multi-racial culture society has taught me to respect people from different race and religion. I was also taught to appreciate and love my country, Malaysia. Moreover, Malaysia is a unique country because all of the race has a different costume. When it comes to festive season Malaysian society will unite and celebrate the festive. Example of traditional costume in Malaysia are baju melayu, cheongsam, saree, punjabi, baju burung, baju panjang and so on. (SHAARMENI KALIMUTHU)

Purchase Malaysian Product

As a Malaysian, we should advocate the Buy Malaysian Products Campaign to stimulate the economic growth of the country while facing the global economy recession. Indeed, we should purchase the Malaysian products as the reduction in the cost of the product. This is because the overall of production would be reduced and indirectly reduced the price of the products as the special packaging of the products are not required for the transportation from one place to another place. Moreover, we could display our supportive to the local business by purchasing local products. Hence, this gesture would lead to more profit for the local business and create the jobs opportunity for the Malaysia citizen (Benefit of .net, 2016). (LIM MIUN CHEN)

Patriotic

A people who live in a country, must has patriotic spirit and everyone has a different ways to show that. As a Malaysia people, we also have patriotic spirit. For example, when we travel to other countries, we can share about Malaysian culture, foods and the place to the local people. So there will more people know about Malaysia and they also will travel to our country. The culture in Malaysia is different with other countries, foods are delicious and the places are very nice. Those who travel to Malaysia, they said that this country is very good.(KHOR QIAO ROU)

Language Ability

What actually makes us as a truly Malaysian is our language ability. Being a Malaysian, I can be very proud to say that the average of us speaks at least two languages. The national language of Malaysia is Malay (Bahasa Melayu) and English is the second language. Mandarin and Tamil are commonly used by Chinese and Indian respectively. There also have some spoken language (dialect) in Chinese and Indian community like Hakka and Telugu. In this way, Malaysian already beat out other nations like Korea and Japan where only limited to one language. This will increase the ability of Malaysian to survive and connect to the world with no communication problem. (OH YI ZHI)

Conclusion

In conclusion, we should be proud to be part of Malaysian citizen because we have beautiful community and civilization, can produce intelligent athletes. Hence, we must do the work together and citizen in Malaysia should make Malaysia proud.

Reference:

• Benefit of net, (2016) ‘Benefits of Buying Local’ [Online] http://benefitof.net/benefits-of-buying-local/ Accessed: 16/11/2016

· Dre, Xiao(2016). "I Am Proud To Be Malaysian" [Online ]

https://www.scribd.com/doc/137699596/I-Am-Proud-to-Be-Malaysian  [Accessed :14 Nov 2016]

· Saman, Hasni(2016). "I Am Proud To Be A Malaysian Because Our"[Online] 

https://www.scribd.com/document/177147044/I-Am-Proud-to-Be-a-Malaysian-Because-             Our-Country-Has-Been-Independent-From-British-Colonies     [Accessed : 14 Nov. 2016]

The Current Tax System is Unfair to the Middle Class and Lower Income Group. Do You Agree?

     Malaysia Tax System can be divided as direct taxes and indirect taxes. The direct taxes such as Corporate and Personal Income Tax, Custom Duty Tax while for indirect taxes include Goods and Services Tax (GST). This entry will talk about Personal Income tax and GST in Malaysia.

     Personal Income Tax is a tax collected from individuals and it is imposed on different sources of income like labour, pensions, interest and dividends. In Budget 2016, the personal income tax rate increase in high income earners and remain unchanged in low and middle income. The comparison between 2015 and 2016 will be shown at the table 1. (OH YI ZHI)

Table 1

     We disagreed that personal income tax have impact the middle class and lower income group in Malaysia. As a Malaysian citizen, we have a responsibility to ensure that the country’s property is always properly cared for. Thus, we are based on our ability such as personal income to pay the income tax in order to contribute to the country. The primary function of taxes is to generate a stream of revenue for the government. Therefore, the tax that has been paid would be utilized in various types of purpose, such as paying the salary to the government employee and ensure the road safety as well as well-maintained (LIM MIUN CHEN).

     GST is stands for The Goods and Services Tax and it is a consumption tax imposed on the sale of goods and services. In some countries it is also called Value Added Tax (VAT). It is a new tax instrument introduced by the Malaysian government on April 1 in 2015 and it is stand at 6 percent. GST has been force to charge on a material. GST is the replacement of CJP and SST.CJP stands for Cukai Jualan dan Perkhidmatan and SST stands for Sales & Service Tax. (SHAARMENI)

     Goods and Services Tax (GST) had affected the business and consumers in Malaysia, especially the middle class and lower income group. The meaning of GST is the products prices increasing and cost of living become high, therefore people may not willing to spend so much as their limited purchasing power. For example there are some people is not eligible to pay for income tax where their income is under certain amounts, so the broad based tax system-GST will impact on those low income workers who are not the taxpayers, now as they will have to pay for GST when they consume and make purchases. (KHOR QIAO ROU)

     Malaysia has to keep tab on improvements to the tax legislation in the region and other parts of the world. Make proactive suggestions to reform and enhance the current structure so that we are in step with worldwide developments. There are some of the current tax system that is unfair for the middle class and lower income group but some is not, like we disagreed that personal income tax is unfair but we agree that GST is unfair for them in Malaysia. 

References

KPMG (2015) ‘Malaysia – Budget 2016 taxes high earners more, relief for low-to-middle incomes’ [Online] https://home.kpmg.com/xx/en/home/insights/2015/11/flash-alert-2015-134.html [Accessed: 03/11/2016]

Kumar, D. (2014) ‘What are the good sides and the bad sides of GST (goods and services tax)?’ Quara [Online] https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-good-sides-and-the-bad-sides-of-GST-goods-and-services-tax [Accessed: 03/11/2016]

R & C RADZI & CO CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS (2016) ‘ DEFINASI CUKAI BARANG DAN PERKHIDMATAN’ http://www.rundinggst.com/index.php/features-mainmenu-47/definasi-gst [Online] [Accessed: 05/11/2016]

Trading Economics (2016) ‘Malaysia Personal Income Tax Rate’ [Online] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/personal-income-tax-rate [Accessed: 03/11/2016]