A Letter from the Home Ministry

Nasihat. Today, I received a letter from the KDN re our 24/8 article MIC battles caste politics which some quarters in the party blamed for a demonstration against the paper in Petaling Jaya the next day by some 100 youths of MIC and over 20 police reports lodged nationwide against the Malay Mail, including by a leader of a newspaper vendor.

The key word in the letter is "nasihat". It's an advice for us NOT to publish similar offending articles in the future. We are also duly reminded of the guidelines issued by the Ministry from time to time.

I can't say I like the tone of the letter, at least not more than the letters from KDN which I used to receive back then. But what I can say is that the KDN under this new Minister has handled the matter quite well: queries were cool and collected, nobody was blowing things out of propertions. Can't say the same thing about some of the MIC leaders, though.

I can also say that despite the letter, The Malay Mail won't ignore issues of caste politics. It's an old issue that has remained relevant till today. [Read the piece in Malaysiakini here to know how old this issue is].

p.s. Earlier this afternoon, the Malay Mail's editor-at-large Frankie d'Cruz and writer Kharleez Zubin spent some time at the PJ police headquarters in relations to this case. Frankie gave his statement after an hour-long Q & A session, while Kharleez was in there for about 90 minutes.

The perils of critical appreciation of Indians in Malaysia

Kecoh, kecoh, kecoh:Indian leaders lodge police reports against Utusan Malaysia editor Zaini Hassan. Free speech? Hehe. Like Azmi Anshar said in his article last week, most Malaysians can't take free speech. Especially those who advocate free speech.

When The Malay Mail wrote the story about caste politics in the MIC back in September, we were slapped with 21 police reports, including from one of our own big vendors who is also an MIC leader. This vendor and I farted ways after that, which is a blessing in disguise!

I've read Zaini's piece. It's a swipe at the likes of M. Kulasegaran who vowed recently to continue questioning some matters pertaining to the position of the Malays (for some, including the "perjanjian keramat" to borrow Anwar Ibrahim's term of social contract). Not against Indians. Not Indians in India, not Indians in Malaysia.

I pasted his article Indians in India, Indians in Malaysia a few days ago h e r e.

Chief Tyrant Officer rules EPF and that’s not OK, say workers

Amir Hamzah

AMIR Hamzah Azizan has helmed nearly a dozen companies, including GLC giant Tenaga Nasional, and in all those years at the top has probably never been called a “tyrant” before. 

But now the generally timid trade unions of the Employee Provident Fund, where he has been CEO since March 2021 (when Muhyiddin Yasin was PM), are calling Amir Hamzah’s management zalim, which is Malay for tyrannical, a title accorded to Firaun in biblical times and, in more recent times, to Dr Mahathir. Surely, something any CEO can do without especially if he or she harbours any ambition to climb to the highest rung of the GLC ladder. 

The trade unions are sore with Amir’s administration for allowing a pay gap cancer to permeate and give birth to a “caste system” between EPF’s top managers earning fat pay checks and ordinary workers who take home crumbs. 

Worse, the workers seem to have closed the door for discussions with the management, tired of being ignored time and again by the management, they claimed. They are now demanding that the Prime Minister steps in to help resolve the dispute.

I don’t know how big the salary disparity in the EPF is or how much Amir Hamzah takes home compared with the salary he pays, say, Ahmad Hamzah the trade union leader. I’m sure Malaysians in general are not bothered how much Amir is paid or how generous he is with his top managers or how much the Minister of Finance (who is also the PMX) allows the directors of EPF to reward themselves. But so often we see low-income workers in this country getting poorer and poorer compared with their bosses and that is something we (ie the employers) need to consciously address if we truly aspire for a more just and equitable society. 

The EPF, which was the 4th largest pensions fund in Asia in 2020 and 7th in the world before the pandemic (its income in the first quarter of 2023 was RM16 billion, 3 per cent more than the corresponding quarter of 2022), is the body entrusted to safeguard the interests of 15 million workers in the private sector who mandatorily contribute 12 per cent of their income to it. 

As I see it, the EPF can’t be doing a great job (for the millions of contributing workers) if it can’t even rein in - or please - its own 5,700 workers.  

 

Why you shouldn't go sleeveless in an entertainment outlet

with updates//8 jul 07 - see end of posting

For Muslim women only. For exposing her arms while singing for a living, Siti Nor Idayu has been ordered to appear before the Syariah Court. She will be charged with"exposing her body" during a performance and "encouraging immoral activities". [Singer held over dressing, thestar online, 6 July]

Did Siti Nor Idayu (pic) expose her body and encourage immoral activities? I wasn't there so I won't know. But I am tired of this Apartheid. Some Muslims in this country derive pleasure from shaming other Muslims and you'd note that these happen only to the lower caste Muslims. They are never going to order the Muslim directors in Malaysia Airlines to appear before the Syariah court for allowing liquor to be flown and consumed on board, for example. Or are they?

There are a thousand other better ways if religious department still want to help promote a good image for Islam. Without shaming the Muslims, including those who are just having a good time and not hurting anyone.

update: Shanghai Stephen has asked Raja Nazrin Shah to step in and tell his state's religious department to chill. Read here.

update 8/7/07: Malaysia: Bloggers protest religious policing (source: Global Voices Online)