More than just reporting...

Bernama is exploring ways to assist the government in amplifying its development policies and plans, says General Manager Datuk Yong Soo Heong.
He said the national news agency wanted to help the government clear the air on important issues that were still not understood by many, namely the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which would be implemented on April 1, 2015 to replace the Sales Tax and Services Tax.
"We felt that we could do more than just mere reporting just for our news subscribers although we had been primarily set up as the country's national news agency 46 years ago.
"Bernama feels that if we were to gather experts on a particular subject to get to the crux of the matter, a lot of fuzziness and misunderstanding on a particular matter could be resolved," he said in his welcoming remarks before the opening of the two-day National GST Conference 2014 by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah at the DoubleTree  Hotel
in Kuala Lumpur today.

"Information is the oxygen of the modern age," said Yong, citing a quote by former US President Ronald Reagan.
The conference themed, "Transforming Malaysia Into a GST-Compliant Economy" is jointly organised by Bernama and Tax Advisory and Management Services Sdn Bhd (TAMS).
The opening ceremony could be viewed worldwide via live streaming on www.bernama.com.
Yong said Bernama was not only encouraged by the strong response from participants to the conference but was also considering the possibility of organising similar events, nationwide, to disseminate vital information on the new tax structure to the people.
He also said the GST conference, would, for the first time see IT companies exhibiting GST compliant software products.
The Royal Malaysian Customs Department has approved 55 vendors to market GST compliant software to industries.
Among the approved vendors participating today are eStream Software Sdn Bhd, OBM Software Sdn Bhd and Wavelet Solutions Sdn Bhd.
Prior to this conference, Bernama and the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute (Asli) had organised the National Economic Summit and Dialogue in March.



By S.Sankara
-- BERNAMA