Of maids and illegals : Malaysia's goodwill...again?

The point is simple - there are Malaysians who are now getting less than what the foreign maids are getting. If this is allowed to continue, then the income disparity will widen more. It is time for a strong political will to resolve the issue and bring up the standards of our own Malaysian citizens. Give them training, provide assistance and chances. Nobody wants to remain poor... no one wants to bring home a take home pay of RM 33 per month, do you?

One marinates meat not issues. A week has passed us by but this writer did not see any posting on Indonesian maid issue. Did Sibu P212 by-election result eclipsed this small but important issue? Or has Malaysians become complacent and take it as a non-issue?

1MPM6 Najib, fresh from BN's defeat in P212 met with Indonesia's SBY on 18th May 2010 and later witnessed the signing of LOI on new terms of Indonesians maids. Amongst others, it is said that :-

1. Indonesian maids will get a day off a week;
2. If the maid decided to forgo her off days, she will be compensated in lieu of it;
   
3. The maids will be allowed to keep their passports if the employers agree;
4. There are suggestions that the maids salary be increased up to 80 % of the present value of between RM 450 ~ RM 550 monthly;
5. There are currently 400,000 foreign maids in Malaysia, out of which 300,000 comes from Indonesia;
6. There are an estimated 2.5 million Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia;
   

Let's not argue about the figures provided by the MSMs. Instead, let's look inward and capture the predicaments faced in our own backyard :-

1. How many of us read about a plantation worker whose April's take home pay is RM 33?. His gross salary was approximately RM 364.96;
2. What about Kampung Kandang Lembu, Hulu Selangor which received such prominence during Hulu Selangor by-election? One person interviewed there survived on RM 150 monthly income to feed her grandchildren. Where is Kamalanathan, now that he won the parliamentary seat? What is he going to do about it? Where is Rozali of Syabas who promised to provide piped water to the folks in Hulu Selangor? Has he decided to by-pass the village?
3. Under current agreement, plantation labourers are ensured a minimum monthly wage of RM 350 which is 22 % lower than the Indonesian maids;
4. Only 5 % of the plantation owners implement housing scheme for estate workers although it has been introduced since 1973 or 37 years ago under Tun Razak House ownership scheme. Now, his son (1MPM6 Najib) has taken over the reins and yet, the plantation workers are still a neglected lot;
5. A restaurant worker in Sibu survived on RM 400 monthly wage which is 11 % lower than what the Indonesian maids are currently getting;
   

Now, where are we heading? This writer would be happier if there are concerted efforts to upgrade these poor and neglected Malaysians. It seems that the powers-to-be are prone to "Kera dihutan disusukan, anak dirumah mati kelaparan" attitude. Will it not be better if :-

1. The relevant ministries train our own domestic helpers and cater our own needs? This move will improve the livelihood of our own poor and at the same time increase their income;
2. The move to train our own domestic helper will reduce currency outflow where the Indonesians maids transferred their income back to their country. This will reduce currency exchange and outflow;
3. By introducing Malaysia's own domestic helpers, it may accelerate mutual understanding between our cross cultures and religions;
4. 300,000 Indonesian maids means that we are paying RM 150M monthly wages to these maids which adds up to RM 1.8B annually. Malaysia can keep this money to circulate our own economy. Is there any need to "allow" RM 1.8B economy to be generated in other countries?;
5. Having a day off weekly will also invite more social problems. What are the social problems? You and I are all adults and a simple 2 + 2 = 4. Do I need to say more? Is Malaysia ready to face these additional social problems created by foreign maids? As is, Malaysia has more than enough problems to cope, why do we need these additional problems?;
   

Those are few preliminary suggestions and can be expanded further if needed. Why are the authorities in such a goodwill and generous mood?

Just the other day,DPM Muhyiddin announced the third amnesty program involving illegal foreigners who work in Malaysia. The first two amnesty took place in 2002 and 2004. But that is not all. Muhyiddin mentioned :-

1. The government will soon offer amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal foreign workers to return home without facing action;
2. Levies will be increased from 2011 based on sectors and workers' skills;
3. Integrated biometric identification system would have to be in place before the programme could be implemented;
4. Introduction of new regulations to curb problem of illegal workers;
5. Government will act against those who harbour illegal workers without permit;
6. Foreign illegal workers work mainly in plantations, construction sites, factories, restaurants and domestic maid sector;
   

Malaysia is truly generous. After two previous amnesty, we are still dishing out the third amnesty. Why? Is it necessary? What has our Ministry of Human Resources got to say on this matter? Is Malaysia really short of workers are are the employers practising selective employing to the advantage of the illegal foreign workers?

Talk about plantation workers, we have seen how our own domestic plantation workers receive measly take home pay, far lower than Indonesian maids. Talk about construction sites, we read about low cost flats going to the rich. Do Malaysia still needs massive construction works? Have we not reached the saturation state yet?

Talk about factories, how do we explain why Vietnam seems to offer better perks and incentives to investors? How do we compete with Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia when our labour and living cost is much higher than those countries?

Talk about restaurants and the first picture that flashes through are the mamaks in Kayu, Pelita restaurants taking orders. I am sure we have enough work force to do that but why do these restaurants offer the vacancies to their own kind? A monopoly of sorts?

Domestic maid? Would it not be better to train our own domestic maid?

Briefly on this amnesty programme conjured by Muhyiddin. Is it really necessary? Shouldn't it be time for Malaysians to take tougher stand on this issue? We have been softies in dealing with the issue. Is it because of the hidden hands behind the illegals? Twice in 2002 and 2004 and we are going for the third amnesty. Will it be fourth, fifth, sixth? Looks more like star wars installations than government policy....

Saudi Arabia tackle their illegals hard. Those caught harbouring, either knowingly or unknowingly illegals will have the said properties confiscated and fined heavily. Although it is seen to be harsh but that move works in Saudi Arabia. Why can't Malaysia follow the model?

The point is simple - there are Malaysians who are now getting less than what the foreign maids are getting. If this is allowed to continue, then the income disparity will widen more. It is time for a strong political will to resolve the issue and bring up the standards of our own Malaysian citizens. Give them training, provide assistance and chances. Nobody wants to remain poor... no one wants to bring home a take home pay of RM 33 per month, do you?

Oh...before this one slips my mind...all are invited to give their feedback on removing subsidies. There will be an open day to get feedbacks on removing subsidies (fuel, sugar, toll, medication, healthcare, food etc). Mark this :-

Date : 27th May 2010 (Thursday)
Venue : Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (Hall 4 & 5)
Time : 0900 - 1400 (That's 9 am to 2 pm)


Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are... Read More

Of numbers, fumblers, singers and ...EC

The delay in announcing the results for P 212 Sibu by-election is technically contributed to the numbers game. Let's not waste time and go straight into it...

Numbers don’t lie. Yet, there are many things that we can learn from numbers. Sibu is just one of them…Some may be celebrating their win with kampua mee and some may be drowning their loss in tuak. I know of one who may be smiling in Sibu with his pipe...

The delay in announcing the results for P 212 Sibu by-election is technically contributed to the numbers game. Let's not waste time and go straight into it...

1. Wong HL of DAP garnered 18,845 against BN's Robert Lau's 18,447 and Narawi Haron independent finished last with 232 votes. A majority of 398 votes;
2. There were 2,537 postal votes and 395 spoilt votes, out of which 208 comes from postal votes;
3. The majority of 398 constitutes to 1.06% of total counted votes and this is the dangerous part. Why? A vote recount can be done if the majority is 1 % or less of total counted votes. And this is where the problem lies;
4. If 208 of the spoilt postal votes were recognised as BN's or independents, then at that period of time, EC may go for recount because the majority will be at 0.81 % (if all the spoilt votes goes to the independent candidate). If the spoilt votes goes to BN, then the majority will be less than 398 and it will be a far worse scenario;
5. Is that the reason why EC was delaying the announcement? It was fortunate that ASTRO 501 carried the event live and you will see how the returning officer is not at his "mode" to announce the result. The RO, Mong See Meng, looked puzzled and confused to the extent that he even announce Robert Lau's vote as "Lapan belas ribu empat ribu empat puluh tujuh" instead of "Lapan belas ribu empat ratus empat puluh tujuh";
6. In P212 by-election, 37,524 votes were counted against 2008's 35,853 voters who voted then. There is an increase of 1,671 votes during the by-election;
7. There is a voters' swing of approximately 3,633 towards PR-DAP (3,325 2008 majority + 398 by-election majority);
8. EC initially announced that 32,742 (59.86 %) voter turnout which was reported in the Sun but later revised the figure to 70 % voter turnout. EC never satisfactorily explain the 10.14 % difference in their reporting. How did EC report 2 different figures of 5,177 votes? That's a lot of votes and can reverse the results!
   
9. EC has also forecasted that the voter turnout should be hovering around 80 % which should be around 43,756 which is another possible additional of 6,232 votes. This too may affect the outcome of the election.
   

Enough with numbers. EC decided to play tough and did not recognise MAFREL as one of the election watchdog. Fine! EC should be proving why election watch dogs are unnecessary by being transparent in their work. Obviously something is definitely not right when the postal votes held back the announcement. Postal votes are the first to be casted and first to arrive to EC office. So, why is it the last to be counted? Can EC explain the rationale and the logic behind this?

EC's inconsistencies in announcing voter turnout percentage is also puzzling. Why the difference of 10 %? Is the EC chairman properly and constantly updated or is he relying on stone-age technology? Heck! Our EC Chairman was there in UK to monitor the election there and yet he make a mockery of himself with the figures. There is so much diffference between a low voter turn out and a better voter turn out. It is better for the EC Chairman to keep mum if he did not know the exact final voter turn out figure! Unless, he wants to start a controversy of some sort...

Sibu has decided and all parties should abide by their decision. Moving on...

Fumblers? Yeah, there is no such word in the dictionary, or is there? For now, let's take fumbler(s) as the one who fumbles in Sibu.

Top of the list should be 1MPM6 Najib himself. His "You help me, I help you" speech in Sibu on the final night is a classic fumble. It really borders on breaching the election rules. How can one say that and tied a RM 5M carrot to the voters of Sibu? Is it not the government's responsibility to ensure the welfare of its citizens? Isn't Sibu part of Malaysia and as such the federal government and the state government's responsibility to take care of their welfare including flood mitigation? It is truly embarassing to see and listen to 1MPM6 Najib uttering those words in the hope of winning over their votes. Does 1M stands for 1 Malaysia or does it stands for 1 Money? Najib should get his priorities right and stop putting conditions for our welfare. It is, afterall, our basic needs and not a luxury!

BN really shoots their own feet when they side-stepped "white hair" Taib Mahmud in P 212. This is "white hair" territory and BN should treat it as such. Easing out "white hair" in P 212 is not the answer. "White hair" may be a burden but BN forgets that he is an asset in Melanau and Iban areas. By ommiting "white hair", BN is making it easy for PR to make inroads to the Melanaus and Ibans and along the way may have bagged those telling 398 votes! Now, Taib Mahmud can say squarely to 1MPM6 - "if you can say to Rejang Park - you help me, I help you; the same can be said to you, Mr PM - you by-pass me and I will by-pass you". Najib needs to do serious soul searching - is BN ready to fall in Sarawak or will BN gamble on "white hair" to retain Sarawak?

Someone asked - what about Alfred Jabu? Well! Alfred Jabu is one of the current deputy chief minister of Sarawak. His role is to contain the Dayaks' vote in BN. Alfred Jabu does not carry out his duties well enough. Result - Sibu fell. Maybe Alfred Jabu is better off by changing his name to Alfred Jambu...then maybe he will be more marketable. Sibu's loss will make it much difficult for Alfred Jabu to take over fom Taib Mahmud.

BN also belittle the independent candidate. This is another suicidal move by BN. What BN should have done is to "convince" Narawi to dropped out of the race. That would have bought BN the crucial 232 votes and narrow the gap with PR's Wong HL. But, No...BN is too high and mighty when they choose to ignore pesky Narawi. It is BN's fumble for letting Narawi into the equation. Then, there is always the question - what if Narawi quit the race and all of his 232 votes go BN's way? Will that force BN/PR DAP/EC to meticulously go through the 208 spoilt postal votes? It will be interesting if that happens last night ...but it never did, all because of BN's sheer arrogance! Just imagine a possible swing of 232 + 208 votes which will add up to 440 which further can leads to a wafer thin 42 vote BN majority win in P 212! That did not happen, all thanks to BN's election machinery which opted to pledges millions to the wrong person (s)... Alas! that chance dissipated on 10th May 2010...

Let's stop with another fumble, the last one here but not necessarily the last one in reality - that of splashing monies to the national type schools and missionary schools. What BN did is none other than to hurt the sensitivities of those hardworking donours who built the school from their own sweat and tears. Just because of the P 212 by-election, BN came in with bags of monies to buy off their hardwork. Isn't that insulting? There are better ways to approach the schools like offering more teachers, books for the libraries, courses for the present teachers etc. BN do not do that, BN choose to parachute in with bags of monies. Money in the bag does not equal to votes in the ballot boxes!

Singers? It's not surprising for BN to engage Jamal Abdillah to perform in Sibu. It will also not be surprising if BN choose to coax AF/Mentor/Imam Muda and the likes to beam from Sibu. That's BN's expertise and BN likes to party...but for Rosmah to sing two songs in Sibu? Apa ke bende nie?

Rosmah aka Mrs Najib herself had professed that she is not a politician. If so, what the hell is she doing in Sibu? She further claimed that she wanted to help out BN by singing - the truth is, it is better for her to zip her mouth. Maybe that 398 win is contributed by her singing...

Rosmah has better things to do if she really wants to. She should be talking to JJ, Rais, Najib to retract the "first lady of Malaysia" advertisement. If she did that before 16th may 2010, maybe it will be a turning point to BN. Alas! Rosmah is too proud to retract the advertisemen and for that BN stumbles in Sibu. It might be a good idea for PR to suggest Mrs Najib to start singing on BN stage in all upcoming by-elections to continue BN's losing streak... Look! Mrs Najib did not sing in Hulu Selangor. Why is she so itchy bitchy wanting to sing in Sibu? Is it because Mrs Rais Yatim is prodding her on? Birds of a feather will indeed flock together.... Muhyiddin should seriously look ito Mrs Rais factor if he still wants to remain the DPM.

Whatever it is, EC should buck up now. There are too many shortcomings that needs immediate remedial actions. Amongst others :-

1. Clearly, the EC personnel needs re-training. The RO looked confused and oddly out of place;
2. With Sarawak state election on the horizon, EC needs to ensure that all of its personnel are thoroughly briefed on the electoral procedures;
3. EC personnel should be unbias. There are reports of EC personnel becoming over zealous when it comes to opposition party flages but hardly raised an eye for the same offense done by the ruling party;
4. EC should come up with standard operating procedure on what, when, how, why, who, where;
5. EC should be sending their personnel for public relation exercise. Better solutions and amicable situation can be created by just a friendly smile, something EC Chairman id devoid of;
6. EC can list their preferred election watchdog committees who will provide their independent report on by-elections and general elections. These will be helpful to EC;
7. For now, let's just hope that EC "breaks" the ice and call both ruling and opposition parties to a "get to know" party and take that opportunity to brief them on EC roles and collect positive feedbacks from the political parties.

Should the list go on? Nah...EC's chairman knows better. It is only that he choose the wrong choice and adapt the wrong approach for Sibu. He can always improvise in the coming rounds...

Numbers, fumblers, singers... what's the solution? Truthfully there are solutions on what BN can do to arrest the slide especially when BN Sarawak has to dissolve the state assembly by November 2011. 1 Year is a short time and there are many things need to be corrected in Sarawak. Sibu proves that national issues are as important as local issues. That said, BN should be thinking many times before proceeding with GST bill.

There are voices on the ground that BN will push for GST by 2011. If indeed that is true, BN is giving BN Sarawak their kiss of death as the issue will be used to the hilt by PR. That's one free advise for BN. On the rest....hey what do you think? There is nothing as free meals, you know!

If BN can pay RM 76M to APCO, shouldn't they do the same plus some more to save BN from losing Sarawak en route to losing Putrajaya? Even if BN decided to do so, do you think NC will take up the responsibility to advise BN? Fat chance! BN will do much better to approach KJ's "self appointed" Minister of Finance or swallow their pride and sit down with Muay Thai fighter combined with "veteran" Aspan of Subang Jaya. Maybe then, it will be a Ronin war worth watching... strategy vs strategy, I love that!

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are...

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Everybody loves Sibu...especially 1MPM6 Najib

The players dread the possibility of being hugged by Mrs Najib! So, they took the safest course of action...lost to China and avoid the possibility.

Seriously, 16th May 2010 is another important date to watch in Malaysian history. Forget about Thomas cup. Sibu is ready to show Malaysians the way to the future.

Someone whispered to me his theory why Malaysia lost to China in Thomas cup 2010 semi-finals. I will leave it to the readers to decide whether his theory is plausible or not. He strongly believed that our Malaysian cup lost the match against China because they wanted to avoid meeting Mrs Najib on 16th May 2010. Reason? The players dread the possibility of being hugged by Mrs Najib! So, they took the safest course of action...lost to China and avoid the possibility.

Maybe, it's true. Just watched how our Lee CW played on Friday. Tension and mistakes. He looked worried and he "tak main puas-puas". All because of Mrs Najib..heh heh heh...

Seriously, 16th May 2010 will be another important date in Malaysian history. Forget about Thomas cup 2010. Sibu is ready to show Malaysians the way to the future.

BN may not admit it but BN is desperate to retain Sibu P212 at all cost. That's why Najib make that extra effort to visit Sibu for the third time in the space of 2 weeks. It is an indication that Sibu is not easily bought...yet. Maybe the "price is still not right" and it is understood that all available fast boats are booked for some "express deliveries" tonight.

Why is Sibu so important? Well, "white hair" Taib Mahmud needs the win for him to get inspiration for the state-wide election date which must be held before July 2011. Winning Sibu will give the assurance for "white hair" to dissolve the state assembly and all is well in the land of the hornbills.

Najib needs Sibu for BN to inch closer to 2/3 parliamentary majority which BN lost in March 2008. Najib has no prolems when millions have been spent as goodies to Sibu. Chinese and missionary schools walked away with a cool RM 18 M budget. 1,000 students collected their 1Malaysia laptops which comes along with free broadband, as announced by Rais "I burnt the bridge" Yatim. Then few millions was later pledged to improve the roads in Sibu. Najib announced a conditional RM5M for flood mitigation in Rejang parkThe list goes on but dismiss the thoughts of EC. MACC and the rest to take appropriate actions because EC will comes out prepared to rubbish all claims of "buy-election" ready to "cleanse" Najib and BN from elections wrongdoings.

PR needs to win Sibu to prove that their pact is still strong. Winning Sibu will revive PR's fading fortunes when some of PR's MPs' decided to jump ship. If PR wins Sibu, then "white hair" will be forewarned that all is not well in Sarawak anymore.

If Sibu falls to PR, then BN's vault of safe 31 parliamentary seats is no longer a guarantee in Sarawak. If the 31 seats is no longer safe vault for BN, then PR's road to Putrajaya is back on track. Imagine if Sarawak's 31 seats shift to PR and a possibility of PR holding 80 + 31 parliamentary seats! It will be UK 2010 re-visited...

At the time of this writing, there are reports coming in that PR finale ceramah is brimming with people. Something like Penang before PR takes over the state in 2008! Najib will be perspiring cold sweat now. Despite his conditional project approval, Sibu comes out in full force to attend PR ceramah and warmly welcome Hadi. Najib blared 1Malaysia but it is PR that comes out tops with leaders from DAP, PAS and PKR with almost 60 MPs' taking centre stage on this finale night.

What do BN has to offer this finale night? Apart from Najib's conditional RM3M offerto Rejang park, BN needs Jamal Abdillah and a set of sexy dancers to woo the crowd. And Rosmah takes the microphone to "toture" the crowd with 2 songs including "The moon represents my heart". Isn't that song supposed to be PAS's love song? Is Rosmah wooing PAS? Does she has Najib's blessings to openly woo PAS?

Think about this - where are UMNO, MIC, PPP, Gerakan in Sibu? Yes, there are some peninsular BN leaders there in Sibu but they are there in their capacity as cabinet ministers. What about the component parties? Is this what Najib is preaching? 1Malaysia but BN can't even manage to have a descent 1BN in Sibu...

Either way, PR wins Sibu. A strong opposition in the form of combined PR has force BN to dish out all the goodies to Sibu folks. Something that BN will not give if PR is weak. Even "white hair" is dishing 50 % discount for Sibu land lease rate. Sibu will forever thanked PR for their strong presence there which is "forcing" BN to bring "extra goodies" and "compensations"...

Sibu will be indebted to PR because P212 by-election force Najib to fly to Sibu three times. Rais is forced to stay put with his "charming" mode. Muhyiddin seems side-stepped in Sibu. Never has Sibu witness the federal cabinet ministers non-stop trail there. It will be a long time before Sibu can see these faces again there unless Sibu goes for another by-election...

Will Sibu change? Let's see Najib's reactions when EC declared PR taking P212 on 16th May 2010. PR need the win to keep Najib on his toes. The Foochows are ready, the Melanaus are willing, the Ibans are accomodating...what about EC?

Till then...G'nite M'sia...wherever u are... Read More