It is high time that the government thinks ‘out-of–the box’ and explores the notion that Orang Asli progress lies in empowering Orang Asli over their customary lands, says Yogeswaran Subramaniam.
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Sep 212010
mradmin
Sep 062010
Think Centre renews its long standing call on the Singapore Government to impose a moratorium on the death penalty.
The Registrar of the Supreme Court has set for the Court of Appeal to hear Yong Vui Kong’s appeal against the High Court’s decision on his judicial review application for the week commencing 17 January 2011. The extension provides the space for Yong Vui Kong’s lawyer to submit a fresh clemency appeal.
Think Centre also calls on the Singapore President to convene a constitutional tribunal, under Article 100 of the Constitution, to examine his powers to grant pardons under Article 22P.
The recent High Court’s ruling on 13 August regarding the limits on the President’s powers to grant clemency had thrown doubts on the efficacy of current and future appeals to the President. Think Centre therefore supports the call to convene a constitutional tribunal on the grounds that since 1991 the President of Singapore has been directly elected by all eligible citizens of Singapore, and thus represents all Singaporeans in spirit, on the issuance of clemency to those who seek it.
Sinapan Samydorai, TC Director of Asean Affairs and advocacy expert on regional human rights issues, commented, “The death penalty is an inhumane, cruel and degrading punishment. A moratorium on the mandatory death penalty will provide the chance to re-examine both the purpose and effectiveness. Even across the causeway where the mandatory death penalty is currently in place, there are now calls for a re-think.”
Over the weekend, Malaysia’s de facto Law Minister, Nazri Abdul Aziz, was reported widely by regional media to have said that it is time to abolish the death penalty on the basis that just as it is wrong for any individual to take a human life, it is also equally wrong for a government to do so.
Think Centre strongly supports this Malaysian wish to abolish the death penalty and sincerely urges the Singapore Government to similarly reconsider its imposition and institute a moratorium on the death penalty. The death penalty is not the answer to the social problem of drug addiction.
The government needs to shift its punitive approaches and view drug-related problem as a serious public health issue. More investment on preventive measures including widespread public education and public debates against consuming drugs is more important and efficient. The police forces are spending a lot of time and resources on the detention of “small fry” runners and the death penalty as punishment benefits the big traffickers. Unfortunately, often the drug consumers and “small fry” runners are executed, while those who mastermind the crime of drug trafficking evade arrest and punishment. Instead, the police forces should target the detention and prosecution of the big traffickers.
Only then will we forge a caring and sharing society in true Singapore spirit.
Kong Soon Tan is President of Think Centre in Singapore
Sep 042010
The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Kuala Lumpur to drop a criminal charge against blogger Irwan Abdul Rahman. He was charged on 2 September with “intent to hurt” in connection with a satirical entry on his blog, nose4news, that made fun of Malaysia’s state-run power company Tenaga, news accounts said.
Irwan’s article, “TNB to sue WWF over Earth Hour,” joked that Tenaga might take legal action against the World Wildlife Fund’s annual energy-saving initiative.
“Because Malaysia’s traditional media face severe restrictions, the country’s online community has filled a valuable role,” said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator. “Irwan Abdul Rahman is guilty of nothing more than poking fun at a powerful state-run entity. That’s exactly the role a satirical journalist should play in a society that considers itself free and modern. The Sessions Court hearing his case should dismiss this charge immediately.”
Irwan, who is also lifestyle editor for the Malay Mail newspaper, could face up to a year in prison and a fine of 50,000 ringgit (US$16,000) if found guilty under the charge, which is part of the Multimedia and Communications Act of 1998, according to news reports. He deleted the Tenaga post from his blog after the criminal complaint was made.
Beginning in 1996, the Malaysian government pledged not to censor online content as part of a campaign to promote its information technology sector. Online news sites and blogs, while operating with relative freedom in Malaysia’s otherwise repressive press climate, have still faced legal harassment at times from officials, individuals, and corporations, CPJ research has shown.
CPJ is a New York–based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit www.cpj.org.
Sep 042010
Can we blame the bloggers for the sour and humourless dispositions of our politicians? Perhaps, they’ve been eating too many sour grapes and have no means of expressing their frustrations in a more positive or creative way, muses Grumblestone.
Here we are again facing another Merdeka celebration that for some seems a chance to exhibit their patriotism in conventional or unconventional ways. Whatever way you do it, is seen as some kind of political statement, even when it may be merely a means of self-expression. Authorities in this country may not have reached the stage of open-mindedness found in some other countries. Our politicians lack humour and the ability to laugh at themselves or their silly mistakes. They’re as sensitive as ‘touch-me-nots’.
In the US, even George Bush and Bill Clinton can laugh at themselves. Brits laugh at their royals and politicians from time to time. But in Malaysia, some of those holding political power seem to see themselves as ‘divine beings’ whose names should not be taken in vain on pain of being sledge-hammered with sedition, the ISA and other humourless and draconian rules.
In contrast, other countries like the US, UK and Australia suffer their nathional flags and effigies of their leaders being burnt and trampled on by protesters in foreign countries. Rightly, foreign protesters can do whatever they like on their home grounds as long as their governments tolerate it. There is no cause for a diplomatic incident as one does not tell one’s neighbours how to live their lives. Yet, again, we bristle up like porcupines and wag fingers at the neighboring populace beyond our jurisdiction… tut,tut,tut.
Yes, we should celebrate our ‘Merdeka’ in a big and ostentatious way, but for some, quiet patriotism suffices. Yet, the apparent festivity and ‘smiley-ness’ of the whole thing with fluttering ‘jalur gemilang‘ from car roofs and buildings leaves a somewhat artificial after taste. We are 53. Have we matured and grown wiser or have we missed maturity and gone straight to senility, falling into dementia instead?
This anniversary sees hard-sell talk of 1Malaysia and anti-racism, but is the reality convincing enough? The hard-sell on anti-racism is somewhat loaded on one-side. Like a dice used by the jackals always winning by means more foul than fair.
So can we blame the bloggers for the sour and humourless dispositions of our politicians? Perhaps, they’ve been eating too many sour grapes and have no means of expressing their frustrations in a more positive or creative way.
Happy Independence Day, Malaysia!
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Sep 032010
Huo Daishan, a newspaper photographer, did not want to give up on the river he loved. So he embarked on a crusade to save the heavily polluted river. The Philippine Daily Inquirer has the story.
One day, Chinese photojournalist Huo Daishan was shocked to see that the Huai no longer looked like the river of his childhood.
It was highly polluted, emitted toxic fumes, yielded dead fish, and killed people. It had become a river of death.
“I lived there,” Huo, 56, told the Inquirer. “I played there when I was a child. The water was clear and we could see fish. We could even drink the water.”
Huo is one of the seven 2010 Ramon Magsaysay (RM) Awardees who will receive honors on 31 Aug, the birth anniversary of the late President after whom the award is named.
He is being recognized for “his selfless and unrelenting efforts, despite formidable odds, to save China’s river Huai and the numerous communities who draw life from it.”
Huo is one of three Chinese RM awardees this year, and the 16th from the People’s Republic of China since the RM Awards began in 1958. The two others, both government bureaucrats, will not attend the awarding ceremony.
The RM Awards Foundation honors individuals and institutions that have shown “greatness of spirit in selfless service to the peoples of Asia.”
The award is given to “persons—regardless of race, nationality, creed or gender—who address issues of human development in Asia with courage and creativity, and in doing so have made contributions which have transformed their societies for the better.”
The great Huai River is known to have cradled ancient Chinese civilization.
By its banks lived great figures in Chinese history, among them Confucius, Mencius and Laozi. Legendary figures Fuxi, ancestor of all Chinese people, and Dayu, water control hero, were associated with it.
The powerful river gave life but it has also been known to take its toll, through floods, on communities thriving near it. A thousand kilometers long, it meanders through four provinces and forms a major agricultural basin where more than 150 million people live.
In recent years the Huai came close to dying because of pollution. Also dying were many people living in riverbank communities that became known as “cancer villages.”
Industries had long been unleashing millions of tons of waste into the Huai, turning it into China’s most polluted river.
But Huo, a newspaper photographer from Shenqui, did not want to give up on the river and the people that he loved.
He embarked on his crusade by showing the state of the Huai through thousands of his photographs. His efforts opened the floodgates of concern that led to a concerted action to save the river.
Full-time mission
In 1987, Huo started documenting the river’s dying. He was alone when he began.
“I had only a Minolta camera, a notebook and a pen,” he recalled.
Although the Chinese government had tried to address the Huai problem with a multi-billion rehabilitation project, its impact was not enough. Worse, a local government produced a fake report on the river’s state.
Huo resigned from his newspaper job and, in 1998, decided to make his river documentation a full-time, self-funded mission.
In 2000 he formed a group called “Guardians of the Huai River” and mounted his first photo exhibit that showed the true state of the river and the communities near it.
With the help of his wife and two sons, he hung photographs on clotheslines along a street in his village. He had little resources to go by, but he was so determined that he eventually drew the attention of the public to the dying river.
He was no longer alone.
Huo’s efforts over the years yielded more than 15,000 photographs taken in more than 20 cities and counties across Henan.
He has held more than 70 photo exhibits in cities, villages and schools. His photographs of children wearing masks to protect themselves from the Huai’s toxic fumes shocked many.
Research and training
Huo and his group produce not only still photographs but also video documentaries in DVD that can easily be shown to big numbers of people. (But a book of photographs and stories is something Huo would really like to do.)
Apart from producing photographs, Huo also did research and organized river visits for students and interested groups.
He trained hundreds of volunteer “guardians” who monitored the Huai and tested the water. One of his group’s shocking findings was the high incidence of cancer, particularly in the respiratory and digestive systems, in the riverbank communities.
Huo also discovered that the water used for agriculture and even the ground water for drinking had been contaminated by the pollutants in the Huai.
Initially, local officials and factory owners did not look kindly on Huo’s advocacy. At one point his website was hacked.
But he was undeterred and continued working hard until his relations with uncooperative groups improved. In fact, one major polluter of the river, a producer of MSG, now collaborates with him in putting pollution controls in place.
Huo has succeeded in involving government and private groups in his crusade to save the Huai. But the so-called cancer villages remain among his major concerns.
He worked to have deep water wells and low-cost filtration systems installed in the riverbank communities and for hundreds of cancer patients to receive medical aid.
Huo hopes to see the Huai restored to its original pristine state in his lifetime, the way it was when he was a child.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/
Sep 032010
It would seem that when desperation plummets to really low levels, as it seems to be doing quite rapidly now, there can be no degree of decency in politics, observes Zaharom Nain.
“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3-5). Truly decent Malaysians, like Aliran president P Ramakrishnan, are becoming increasingly alarmed and certainly frustrated at current developments in the politics of race and religion in Malaysia.
In his latest missive to the media, published by the online media but, predictably, ignored by most of the mainstream press, Ramakrishnan hits out at the accusations hurled at the Penang Chief Minister by the Defence Minister and also a Malay national daily. Accusations, thus far rather baseless, that the Agong’s name was substituted with the CM’s in a Friday sermon, and accusations that the CM had personally directed his name to be mentioned in the sermon.
Ramakrishnan ends his letter with the plea that “there must be some degree of decency in politics.”
Elsewhere down south, a senior teacher — a headmistress, no less — reportedly utters some pretty hateful, racist remarks in a school gathering witnessed by hundreds of students. Ugly remarks urging some students to go ‘back’ to China (where many, if not all, being Malaysian-born and raised, have never ever been before … and quite likely have no intention of doing so). And equally hurtful remarks about the religious ornaments worn by her Hindu pupils.
After the initial public uproar, she personally apologises to the pupils she has wronged. To seemingly make light of a very serious issue, the DG of Education reassures us ignoramuses that it was all a ‘misunderstanding’.
Following which, the Education Minister, perhaps aware that ‘misunderstanding’ does not quite cut it as a valid explanation, decides to invest time, money and human-power on a ‘taskforce’ to ‘investigate’ the incident.
In the meantime, we hear that the headmistress has been transferred to another school when, perhaps, an enforced vacation pending the outcome of the investigation would have been a better option. After all, if indeed, she had uttered those remarks to impressionable children in her capacity as their headmistress, surely she ought to be kept away from others whose young minds she may also poison?
While all this is still going on, an apparently naive first-term woman MP steps into a surau in her constituency, addresses the people assembled there when invited, and finds herself on the front page of that same Malay national newspaper the next day, accused of ‘insulting the nation’ (where the paper not very cleverly or subtly conflates race and religion into ‘the nation’). She purportedly incurs the wrath of the Sultan to whom she now has to apologise.
What’s sad about this recent episode is that it paints a picture of the religion as being exclusive instead of inclusive, where certain officials jump the gun and make instant decisions without giving the accused a chance to respond, without stepping back and looking at the whole situation.
Indeed, compare the official — and press — reaction to this recent incident with the earlier incident involving the headmistress and we begin to see clear inconsistencies. Certainly inconsistencies that have become too apparent these days although those in power think the rakyat cannot fathom them.
Notice, for instance, how fast the official response has been with this surau incident and how they seem to be dragging their feet with the school incident.
In this latest instance, the MP is virtually tarred and feathered almost immediately, whereas the headmistress is initially excused for being ‘misunderstood’ and later transferred instead of being told to go on leave pending investigations.
These aside, fresh allegations of impropriety have now emerged about three state representatives in Penang purchasing houses worth RM600,000. Before we read too much into that, let us please take note that RM600,000 in Penang would get one a fairly decent intermediate double-storey link house and virtually nothing more.
And allegations of this nature against state officials in Penang are nothing new. Not long after the 2008 general elections, the new CM (yes, the same poor CM caught in the recent sermon incident) was accused of impropriety when he temporarily moved out of his termite-hit official residence to a bungalow. Yet, in the end, nothing came out of that.
At the same time, a former CM in another state builds a mansion purportedly at a cost of RM24 MILLION, asserts that he makes more than a decent living looking at people’s teeth, and the same officials and media — those who selectively pick their targets — evidently agree straight off, without any questioning let alone investigation, that there’s been no impropriety.
Indeed, many of these accusations often smack of desperation on the part of the accusers. The belief is that if you throw enough mud, some of it is bound to stick. It helps, of course, if you have a compliant media at the same time, plus particular rags which you own, to help publicise your accusations as if they were much more.
And while I sympathise totally with someone like Ramakrishnan, nonetheless it would seem that when such desperation plummets to really low levels, as it seems to be doing quite rapidly now, there can be no degree of decency in politics.
But, of course, these politicians do all this at the risk of losing touch with the increasing number of voters like Ramakrishnan, whose intelligence and decency they insult, yet whose votes they wish to have.
Source: borneopost.com
Sep 032010
Most migrant women in Asia are working as foreign domestic workers. Such predominance in domestic work is obvious in countries where female migrants outnumbered men, such as the Philippines and Sri Lanka. As International Solidarity Day with Foreign Domestic Workers fell on 28 August, CARAM Asia and its members called on governments throughout the world to immediately amend national employment laws to recognise domestic workers as workers with rights no less than other categories of workers.
The International Solidarity Day with Foreign Migrant Domestic Workers was initiated in Sri Lanka following a successful Colombo Regional Summit on Foreign Domestic Workers in 2002. Then, CARAM Asia, alongside 132 other participants from various countries including those representing international UN agencies, said that 28 August should be used to highlight the plight of foreign domestic workers and the need to recognise domestic workers with labour rights equal to other categories of workers
In a report prepared for the general discussion on migrant workers, which took place during the 92nd Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC 2004), the International Labour Organisation stressed that FDWs are among the world’s most vulnerable workers. Their working conditions foster an environment of dependence and isolation, particularly in situations whereby employers confiscate their documents (travel, work and residence); workers are confined to their work place and not able to leave without escorts or for valid reasons; limited interaction and contact with the outside world and most work 24-7, without a day off. This systematic denial of their labour and human rights dampens their spirit and physical conditions, causing mental instabilities, lack of access to health care and well being and further leads to the denial of their reproductive and sexual rights.
Furthermore, lengthy labour disputes or justice process and high costs for workers to extend their stay pending their cases to be resolved result in many workers giving up on seeking justice. Employers in host countries are also frequently known to ensure that domestic workers remain isolated and solely dependent on the family by cutting off communications with their own families. Since the personal documentation of the foreign domestic workers is often withheld, many of them are arrested, detained and then deported from their host countries if they attempt to flee abusive or exploitative treatment.
The extreme institutionalised exploitation of domestic workers has been ongoing for the past three decades, and as numbers of FDW continues to rise, so too does the risk of abuse. In fact, it is clear that the previously listed rights violations ferment an environment of bonded labour with intense servitude and debt bondage that constitutes trafficking in persons. Moreover, the cycle of abuse that is inflicted on migrant domestic worker will continue until governments protect the rights of domestic workers by guaranteeing their rights through legally enforceable mechanisms with due oversight and accountability.
In keeping with the recognition of domestic work as work, this year, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) voted for a historic new International standard for Domestic Workers and by next year the bill of rights for Domestic Workers will be finalised into this new standard. CARAM Asia calls on all governments around the world to amend and make additions to domestic employment legislation to include domestic workers. Such a move will act as a progression in line with the international standard setting-process that recognises domestic work that is ongoing and will continue until at the next International Labour Conference in 2011.
CARAM Asia and its members representing non-governmental organisations, community based organisations and trade unions recommend the following;
- Governments must enact laws and adopt other measures to ensure that the rights of domestic workers are protected under the legal framework;
- All countries must immediately sign and ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW, 1990);
- States must develop redress mechanisms for effective accountability of non-state actors such as labour recruitment agencies, employers and brokers for any violations against domestic workers;
- Governments, trade unions and employer associations support and endorse the International Labour Organisations (ILO) new Convention for Domestic Workers and its supplementary recommendations.
CARAM Asia is NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is an open network of NGOs and CBOs, consisting of 33 members covering 18 countries in Asia and the Middle East. The CARAM Asia network is involved in action research, advocacy and capacity building with the aim of promoting and protecting the health rights of Asian migrant workers globally. Visit www.caramasia.org for more information on CARAM Asia.
Sep 022010
Gadoh, a film produced by Komas, tells a story of a group of teenagers who fought each other along racial lines – a cycle of hatred and violence further escalated by their environment and school system.
What was to be a quick resolution to improve the school’s bad image was taken as an opportunity for one teacher who believed that real change was possible. She ropes in the help of an old friend and reluctant maverick theater activist for this arduous task.
Is there hope amidst the cycle of discrimination that surrounds us?
Watch Gadoh for their story and what it may very well tell us about ourselves.
Movie Info: Duration: 70 mins
Director: Brenda Danker, Namron
Producer: Anna Har Production
Company: Big Pictures Productions
Supported by Pusat KOMAS
Starring: Namron, Nicholas Liew Davis, Zahiril Adzim, Amerul Affendi and Maya Tan Abdullah
Language: Bahasa Malaysia with English/BM subtitles
Poster design by: Alexdrina Chong, Lucid Design Collaborative Studio
Official Home Page: komas.org/gadoh/
Sep 022010
The Malaysian government should scrap plans to expand a state-sponsored security force of civilian volunteers with a long record of human rights abuses against refugees and migrants, Amnesty International said.
Ikatan Relawan Rakyat, commonly known as Rela, aims to expand its membership from 1.6 million to 2.6 million by the end of the year, according to an interview given to the Associated Press by the organisation’s Director-General Zaidon Asmuni. However, Asmuni also said Rela would be unable to thoroughly train more than 8,000 new officers per year.
Amnesty International documented in two reports in 2010 how Rela volunteers regularly engage in physical abuse and extortion, and indiscriminately detained those with the legal right to be in the country.
“Rela agents are responsible for the most rampant human rights abuses against migrants and refugees in Malaysia,” said Sam Zarifi, Asia-Pacific Director at Amnesty International.
“Instead of curbing their abuses, the government plans to let loose a million more ill-trained civilians with police powers.”
Rela is a civilian volunteer corps, but the government authorises it to exercise police functions, including raiding, interrogating and detaining suspected illegal immigrants. Some Rela members are authorized to carry firearms.
Rela’s Director-General stated that new recruits will again be involved in the guarding of immigration detention centres, which has not been carried out on a large scale since mid-2009.
“Last year the Malaysian government promised Amnesty International that Rela would be stripped of its highly-criticised role in immigration enforcement, so it is very disappointing to see the force being handed back powers over immigration detention centres,” said Sam Zarifi.
Amnesty International has found that Rela lacks a clear structure of command responsibility, allowing Rela members to commit abuses without being held accountable.
19 August 2010
Sep 012010
S Arulchelvan expresses dismay over how his words have been taken out of context by an English-language daily. It appears that this daily is keen to pit political parties that are allies against each other over the appointment of councillors.
‘PSM impatient over PKR snub in Selangor’? I am quite disgusted by this piece of reporting by The Star.
A reporter called me on 25 August 2010 and asked if PSM had decided anything during the Central Committee meeting on the councillor’s position.
I said we did not discuss it and that we had written a letter to Anwar and Khalid seeking further discussion. I did not say anything more on this topic. At one point, I got irritated with the journalist who kept suggesting ideas as to what I should say and I said that we don’t want to play to the tune of the media and that there were more important things facing the nation which we addressed in the CC meeting.
The journalist wanted to know what sort of things were discussed.
Then I spoke about the labour amendments and the subsidy cuts.
The journalist then asked questions to that effect.
Finally, this piece of trash (below) appeared. I don’t know if it is the work of the journalist or the editor.
I normally don’t blast the media but this is getting a bit out of hand. The other day, a Star journalist by the name of Lee asked and suggested that the PSM field a candidate against Sivarasa because he does not speak Tamil and is (purportedly) not popular among the grassroots. That is why i am getting irritated with this kind of reporting.
S Arulchelvan is secretary general of Parti Sosialis Malaysia.
Saturday August 28, 2010 (Star)
PSM impatient over PKR snub in Selangor
PETALING JAYA: Parti Sosialis Malaysia is growing impatient over the continued snub by the PKR over the loss of PSM’s sole local council seat in Selangor last month.
PSM sources said they had been waiting close to a month to get an explanation for the PKR’s alleged unilateral decision to take the Petaling Jaya City Council seat.
PSM secretary-general S. Arutchelvan, when contacted, said the party had written to PKR leaders seeking a meeting .
“We have requested to meet the Selangor Mentri Besar (Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim) and PKR adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,’’ he said.
Following a revamp of the 12 local councils in Selangor last month, a third of the 288 councillors were replaced.
The sole PSM representative V. Paneerselvam lost his seat to the PKR’s S. Kandiah in the reshuffle.
“We have yet to get an explanation although the mentri besar had said he would discuss the matter with us,’’ said Arutchelvan, adding that the issue was not discussed at the PSM central committee meeting here on Thursday.