Modern Slaves

The recent announcement by Minister of Human Resources, S. Subramaniam, that maids be given compulsory one day leave per week is long overdue. What is not said is that this is a standing ruling which has largely gone unenforced by the Ministry.

We have heard, read and to some, seen, so much injustice being done to foreign workers that we cannot be blamed to think that perhaps the government condone slavery in its modern form. True, the abused may be in the minority. And true, perhaps the media in countries like Indonesia may have blown the issue out of proportion. But what is also true is that these abuse do happen, and a lot more often than we will admit.

Maids being tortured, and physically and emotionally abused are only the tip of the iceberg. What has been reported occasionally, and happen every day, are foreign workers in factories and plantations working 16 hour days, salary (some as low as RM 300) illegally deducted for accommodation and food. And because of the illicit trade of these workers by unscrupulous agents in cohort with greedy business people, some are not even paid any salary for the first one year, purportedly to cover immigration and transportation costs to bring them to Malaysia. And so far, we are only talking about the legal workers.

The plight of illegal workers are even more heart wrenching. It's a long standing tale among the Indonesian workers community of how one renowned property developer has a worker killed because he was leading a group of abused workers to rise against their employer; and when this was reported to the authorities, we did what we usually do, arrest the complainants for illegal entry, put them in an illegal workers camp, convince them what they saw were not real and then deport them to their home country. Of course, this is hearsay and may be the work of over-imaginative minds, but are they really that hard to imagine? Now, who do we blame when some of these abused workers, many of whom borrowed heavily to come to Malaysia and thrown out of jobs, decide to turn to theft and robbery to put food into mouths?

Ask any foreign worker - legal or illegal, who they fear the most, and you inevitably get that four letter word - RELA. While the idea behind this quasi-police unit may be noble, what really happens on the ground may not. I've seen suspiciously non-Malaysian looking men donning the uniforms, which puts into question both the admission criteria and the discipline and self-regulation of this organisation. It has been widely perceived among foreign workers, justly or unjustly, that RELA condones its members to use unnecessary force and extort bribes for not arresting illegal workers. Of course, we pray these are just lies. But they are enough to instill hatred among even new foreign workers of Malaysians, uniformed or otherwise.

MORE THAN JUST A DAY OFF NEEDED
While a day off a week may be a good start, it is hardly enough. We don't need more laws and feel good press conferences, but the political will to cut off the rot, starting with quasi-police units that some political parties rely on to deliver the votes. Followed by local kingpins / politicians who make money from the misery of these foreign workers. Then go after the unscrupulous agents, many of whom are no better than pimps and human traffickers. More importantly, give one Ministry - preferably the Ministry of Human Resources, the full authority and responsibility to deal with every aspect of foreign worker employment - from immigration, health inspection to licensing and enforcement, to minimise abuse.

Now that we have a new Premier and a new Home Minister, it's about time we put things in order.

SME 2nd Anniversary Gala

I would like to thank all friends, supporters and government officials who joined us at Shangri-La Hotel Kuala Lumpur for our 2nd Anniversary Gala.

Your support has given the entire SME team the inspiration and stamina to continue working hard to delivering a magazine that represents you and your aspirations.

Thank you for sharing with us this beautiful two years and we hope to have you with us for years to come.

May god bless you.

And the Centre of the Universe Is In…..

When the first Europeans arrived in China in the 13th century, they were truly amused when told that they have arrived in the ‘Middle Kingdom’. After all, haven’t they reached as far East as they could possibly have?

The course of history as they run is clear to all of us. Geopolitical observer, Fareed Zakaria noted in his book ‘The Post American World’ that the three power shifts in the past 500 years are the rise of the Western world (15th – 18th century), the rise of the US (19th – 20th century) and the rise of the rest (21st century). Yet, lest those of us in Asia has this fake sense of coming grandeur, the heart of the world – political, economics, military and even cultural are still 10,000 km away in Washington DC. And despite what many would argue, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon – certainly not in our lifetime.

The GDP of the United States is still almost double of China – Asia’s largest economy and over three times that of Japan, Asia’s second largest. Even assuming the impossible – that China continue to grow at an average of 7% (the projected growth rate this year) while the United States’ economy remain stagnant, it will take a whole decade for China to be on par economically with the United States, and another 40 years for China’s GDP per capita to catch up with the United States. And in the meantime, the new Asian tigers – China and India (or Chindia – a term we Malaysians have long been using before Indian politician Jairam Ramesh usurp the term in 2005) would have to content with the rise of other Asian countries, Latin American economies and the emergence of stronger and hopefully more politically stable African nations. Not to mention the military might that is hard, if not impossible, to surpass (the United States and Europe collectively accounts for two third of the global expenditure on military hardware and personnel).

The shift of power to the East is unmistakeable, mind you, but just not as miraculous and effortless as many of us have been led to believe. The most challenging years remain ahead. China’s call for a new international financial system prior to the recent G20 meet in London fizzled out faster than the suggestion could even take root. The fact that it has almost all its reserves in US dollar probably served as a reality check.

Having said that, the markets and regulations are changing at a rate not seen since the industrial revolution. So much so, that I begin to comprehend how people living during the gold rush of the 19th century must have felt. Brought on by the internet, the retirement of the baby boomers, the emerging economic leadership of the Gen-X and ultimately, greed: the international financial markets are experiencing a flux like never seen before. Most people call it a global recession. To some, including this humble writer – it’s an overdue correction of a lopsided system designed to keep the centre of the universe exactly where the sole superpower want them to be.

We have been playing so hard in the field created by others that we fail to see that the goalpost and rules of game can be changed anytime, rendering what we know completely useless. Some preach the mastering of Western ideas, technologies and ways of doing business. What is truly needed is innovation leadership – the championship of ideas and thoughts that will allow us to redefine how the world operates. A new international financial system based with on an alternative to the dollar would be a nice start.

It would of course be good to be in the thick of actions, to be the centre of anything. For that to ever happen, we need more than just unbroken economic growth. Nothing short of a ‘United Asia’ or a complete dismantling of the current financial system would result in a real shift in power to Asia. Otherwise, all the gains are nothing more than proxies for the continued dominance of the West.

We live in interesting times indeed.

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This is an article appearing in SME Magazine June 2009. The writer is currently in Beijing, China in the official entourage of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.