ASEAN in 2015: Will Lower Oil Prices Interfere with its Economic Expansion?
Talking about ASEAN and how as a regional hub will help push the Malaysian Insurance industry to a newer height, this is one good article at KNOWLEDGE@WHARTON —- I supposed this makes great reading since contents were tastefully compiled and presented. Hope our readers will enjoy…. The 620 million people living in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, are facing some potentially big changes in coming months, given lower oil prices and the formation of a regional economic community.
Officials say 283 passengers and 15 crew members died when the flight crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border on Thursday. So far, there is no evidence that the aircraft malfunctioned; officials say it was brought down by a Russian-made antiaircraft missile. But according to the Montreal Convention, a 1999 international treaty that governs airline liability and compensation for the victims of air disasters, Malaysia Airlines is liable, regardless of whether it is at fault for the crash. Airlines do not have to pay for damaged cargo if it’s damaged in an act of war. But in the case of death or injury to passengers, the aircraft carrier can be held liable for up to 113,100 Special Drawing Rights, an updating, weighted average of convertible currencies.
Surprisingly in 2008 there was reported a total of 2.06 million foreign workers registered in the country but here the statistics just show some 50% of that reported numbers. Well… this is despite the fact that Subsection 26 (1) of Workmen’s Compensation Act 1952, having direct that all employers of foreign workers must ensure that the workers are insured all of their foreign workers within the Foreign Workers’ Compensation Scheme designated by the Human Resources Minister. The Subsection 26 (1) of Workmen’s Compensation Act 1952 specifically states that failure to do so is an offence and if convicted, the employer would be fined not more than RM20,000, or jailed for not more than two years or both.
A few months ago numerous insurance companies wrote to the Stamping Office of the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board (IRB) requesting that the stamping requirement for insurance bond or guarantee issued to cover foreign workers be simplified or to allow self-franking by the insurance companies themselves. Of course the original intention was to complain against certain companies and shame them (in public) over the manner the “Stamp Duty Paid” mark was placed onto their Foreign Workers Insurance Guarantee (FWIG) policy. At that time the public understanding was that any documents falling under BOND or GUARANTEE must be stamped at the Stamp Office and not to be handled by any third party.