Finally, the highway concession agreements between the government and toll operators were made public on Jan 5, following their declassification from the Official Secrets Act 1972. Why were they official secrets, I wonder? What kind of secret time bombs and special service highly confidential national security issues were involved?
January 7, 2009
The CSR Digest will be having a media watch this year on pledges and promises of donation. The media often highlights charitable giving from businesses to those in need. While many view this as a laudable effort of corporations in being socially responsible, others believe that the endeavor is merely for press coverage.
January 6, 2009
Apparently, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat is expected to have support from the Cabinet and government officials for his attempt in making staff changes at The Star, however unpopular the proposed changes might be for the Star employees. According to the Malaysian Insider, it is an "open secret" that the Star, Malaysia's largest English daily, has been under scrutiny since the 2008 March elections.
January 5, 2009
Of the four dimensions, public listed companies had the best score for CSR at the workplace in the Bursa Malaysia’s “Corporate Social Responsibility in Malaysia 2007 Status Report“. The CSR Digest conducted an email interview with Human Resources Management (HRM) guru, Maimunah Aminuddin. Puan Maimunah served in Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) for 34 years. She began her career… [Read more…]
January 2, 2009
Logging companies were condemned due to allegations of rape against women from the Penan tribe, an indigenous tribe found in East Malaysia’s forest. The Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF) reported, “Penan women from the Middle Baram area of Sarawak are launching a cry of alarm to the international community over cases of sexual abuse by logging… [Read more…]
December 26, 2008
Two headlines on Utusan in a day, both dealing with defamation. Firstly, Malaysiakini reported that Selangor executive councillor and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok filed a RM30 mill defamation law suit against former Selangor MB Dr Mohd Khir Toyo and Utusan over the azan controversy, which led to Kok’s ISA detention without trial. Secondly, it was reported PAS… [Read more…]
December 23, 2008
Would you buy a house by / on the hills? Within the period of two days, two landslides caused much damage and death in Kuala Lumpur. This perhaps might not have made such major headlines had it not occurred just a few days to the 15th anniversary of the Highland Towers tragedy, which caused the… [Read more…]
December 21, 2008
In the first part, Malaysian CSR marketplace issues were explored, while the second instalment discussed CSR at the workplace issues. This instalment will be on the environment. Carbon Trading Malaysian corporate giant, YTL Corp, took a major stake in is believed to be Malaysia’s largest carbon credit consultancy, reported to be seeking opportunities in the palm oil industry.… [Read more…]
December 14, 2008
Workplace CSR at the workplace took a press beating this year, especially in terms of safety and welfare of migrant workers in Malaysia. For example, in April, the death of three foreign workers, reported to be caused by the tilting and slipping of an overloaded gondola, was highlighted in the local press. Human Resources… [Read more…]
December 13, 2008
Transparency International Malaysia has just released the findings of its Transparency International’s (TI) 2008 Bribe Payers Index (BPI). Interestingly, corporations believed that their own organisations are involved in corrupt practices in Malaysia and the region. Political parties were singled out as the most corrupt institutions in the Asia Pacific region with a BPI of 3.6,… [Read more…]
December 12, 2008
Quite a number of corporate social corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues were highlighted in the press in 2008. However, they might have slipped past readers as the CSR angle in the news was not explored. This editorial, the CSR Digest’s inaugural piece, seeks to put together a report card on how businesses fared on the… [Read more…]
January 8, 2009
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