Further to this previous entry, the plot thickens. According to the Malaysian Insider, the Catholic Church of Malaysia wants the government to retract its statement denying it banned the Herald from publishing in the national language. Otherwise, the Herald, the Catholic church may take legal action against the Home Ministry. The Star apparently reported that a Home Ministry official denied that there was a prohibition on the Herald's Bahasa Malaysia version.
January 6, 2009
A friend of mine said, "You don't mess with the Catholics!" Malaysiakini reports that Malaysia's Catholic publication, the Herald Catholic weekly, threatened legal action against the government. This comes shortly after the Home Ministry prohibited the publication from using "Allah" in its Malay language edition.
December 18, 2008
He sighed, “Of course, I expected them to ask the questions, and I understood the concepts. But I suddenly realised that I couldn’t express myself properly,” “Why not?” “Because I learnt all the mathematical and physics concepts in Bahasa!” This story always comes to my mind when I read news relating to the medium of… [Read more…]
November 20, 2008
The courts and the judiciary have come under scrutiny recently. Allegations of corruption and political inculcation in boot camps have taken up many column inches in both the print and online media. Another ill plaguing the courts, undue delay in resolving cases, has also been highlighted through Irene Fernandez’s decade-long “false news” case. Industrial courts, running… [Read more…]
November 15, 2008
My former employer/lecturer and friend, Nina Adlan Disney, sent me a form recently, protesting the proposal to switch the medium of instruction of Mathematics and Science back the Bahasa Malaysia. Unfortunately, this time around, it’s not the government who wants to do this, but rather the parents and the academia who are calling for the… [Read more…]
November 10, 2008
Last week, two interesting pieces of news pieces were reported. The first was that the government intends train 12,000 graduates within a two-year time frame under the “Graduate Employability Management Scheme” (GEMS), to be conducted by government-linked companies (GLCs). Apparently, there are 18,000 vacancies for critical positions in the public sector. Furthermore, 2008 saw more than 1,300 employees… [Read more…]
November 4, 2008
Apparently, there is concern that Malaysians working abroad, feeling the pinch of the economic downturn worldwide, will soon flood the already-saturated Malaysian market.To make matters worse, we have foreigners and ‘illegals’ here in the country. It is said that 252,600 new jobs created in the country each year almost 45% went to foreigners. Odd, considering… [Read more…]
October 31, 2008
Bhag Singh has written an excellent article on sick leave and work, for those of you who are interested. Provisions for paid sick leave are common but there are limits. It is traumatic for an employee who has health problems to be told that his employment is coming to an end. Unpleasant as it may… [Read more…]
October 30, 2008
Let’s talk about unemployment, shall we? Firstly, I’d like to thank Hassan Abdullah for his candid email to me on my column, “Of Enterprising Minds“. He said: I must object strongly to it and your general thesis and purpose, which is to slag off young graduates and make everyone think they are incapable of employment. You… [Read more…]
October 24, 2008
The NST reported recently the following breakdown on the state of the Industrial Courts in Malaysia: An employee who has been unjustly dismissed has to make representation at the Industrial Relations Department (IRD) within 60 days in order to be reinstated After the representation, an industrial relations officer would try to reconcile the dispute If… [Read more…]
October 21, 2008
According to Bernama, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said his ministry will have the national ‘Decent Work Agenda’ implemented by 2010. The Decent Work Agenda, themed ‘Realising Decent Work’, was visualised through the ministry’s Strategic Plan from 2008 to 2010, focusing on six priority areas. These areas include creating job opportunities and ensuring workers rights, ensuring… [Read more…]
October 16, 2008
My column for the Sun was out yesterday, on the allegations of sexual abuse against Penan women. As many Malaysians push for greater accountability of their leaders, we shouldn’t forget corporate accountability either. And by this, I’m not just talking about responsibility to the shareholders, but also to their employees, their creditors and all stakeholders,… [Read more…]
October 10, 2008
There’s no doubt about it, human trafficking is the contemporary version of slave trade. The deprivation of liberty, the forced labour, it’s kidnap, it’s despicable, and it’s one of the biggest form of international trade in the world. NST reports: Lured to Singapore with promises of well-paid maid jobs, the five women escaped when they… [Read more…]
October 8, 2008
It has been reported that the Human Resources Ministry will be looking into formulating guidelines for employers to ensure they contribute towards the Social Security Organisation (Socso) and Employees Provident Fund (EPF). However, this new development appears to be applicable only to students and civil servants who work on a part-time basis.
October 7, 2008
According to the NST, MTUC vice-president A. Balasubramaniam said the Human Resources Ministry should get employers to grant a “special relief allowance”, of about RM300, to all workers. He was quoted as saying: So far, only a few government-linked companies are giving between RM100 and RM150 to their employees… Many private sector employers cannot be bothered to… [Read more…]
January 12, 2009
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