Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

Malaysians and the government must learn this bitter lesson today. The coronavirus is spreading like nobody’s business and it is continuing its vast spread to take more lives away from this world. Some say it is the will of God, but it is not. It is because we are lacking in action, so does the government inaction. The slow response and lacking in counter measures to curb the spread of this virus has in fact make things worse for the entire nation. Some will be wondering why is this coronavirus spreading like a rocket speed. First our nation’s government machinery has not been serious about curbing this virus even from the beginning. Much politicking has been played in the latest political scene. And our nation then experienced a very long period without a government which had made things even worst for everyone. The nation’s administration came to a complete standstill following a coup d’etat which caused the previous government to collapsed. Religious matter has been another big i...

Recently, the Perikatan Nasional government announced some “financial assistance” package in order to “reduce” the burden of our people’s livelihood who are affected following the Movement Control Order (MCO) implementation nationwide which saw all economic activities came to a standstill following the lockdown. We would like to ask the prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his cabinet ministers, what do you mean by financial assistance? Do you know the real definition of financial assistance? You are now allowing our people to withdraw from their retirement savings in the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) for about 12 month beginning from 1st April 2020 next month. This is not financial assistance. This is about taking out our live savings for our retirement to ease our current burdens today. So, how are we going to survive in our retirement age in the aftermath? Then in the end, you will definitely blame us for not having enough for our retirements in the future. Can a higher divi...

Well, when we ask the above question to many people, many will definitely point their fingers at the present government on their “failure” to address and prevent the current economic downturn and the rising inflation. This is natural for people to voice their frustration and anger of not being able to accept the rising cost of living, inflation and job losses at the current government. Many did not know exactly or did not even bother of wanting to know where such hardships were originated from and why did it happened in the first place. According to economist, Professor Jomo Sundaram, Malaysians should be prepared to brace for tougher times ahead as the economy is beset by mainly the current trade war between the United States and communist China. Besides those external factors, some are also blaming the current situation on the relentless attacks on the previous BN government by the then PH opposition when the then BN has to stop their planning for our nation’s economic futur...

We have been hearing complaints from our people that they have not been able to agree with some new policies implemented by the new government recently. Many policies are seen to be unpopular among the population since Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over the government seat in Putrajaya from Barisan Nasional (BN) following the defeat from the later in 9 May 2018 general elections. Perhaps, today our people has forgotten. The ruins and chaos being left over by the defeat BN in aftermath of the general elections last year. The extensive mess, massive corruptions, mismanagement and power abuse during the BN’s reign. All these negative elements left in Putrajaya and its ministries, departments, agencies and GLCs, who are picking-up the mess now? Has anyone realise the fact now? Yes, many are seen to have forgotten and worst of all many had forgotten it easily that the causes are having its effect today, and you cannot just simply blame the new government over all the misfortune and unpop...

Minister in the prime minister’s department, Abdul Rahman Dahlan used to said that political stability is crucial for Malaysia’s economy to grow. Umno president and prime minister Najib Razak too has mentioned the importance of political stability to allow the economy’s continuous growth. So does Najib’s special officer Isham Jalil who has also repeated his boss’ words through his writings. It seems Umno leaders are now using the phrase “stability” so they could get away with their various wrongs highlighted by the opposition leaders. Instead of acknowledging their mistakes, Umno leaders frequently used “stability” as a weapon against the opposition by accusing the later of attempting to destabilise the nation by calling for our people’s “revolt”. What is stability for economic growth, when there is excessive corruption among leaders and politicians of the ruling party, Umno from top right down to the bottom. Their everyday routines are all about money, projects, contracts, you help...

There’s an image that has come to be associated with millennials – that they are changing jobs every couple of years. This is said to look bad on a resume. It portrays a prospective employee as someone who can’t hold down a job or is unable to get along with colleagues; worst still, lacks loyalty and commitment. However, that stigma is changing, especially as millennials constantly rise in their workplaces and, in the process, learn and advance their careers. In fact, it has been seen that those who stay with the same company for several years tend to see lower pay growth than others who don’t. If we are to go by a Forbes report, staying employed at the same company for over two years on average is going to make you earn less over your lifetime by about 50% or more – an estimate that they claim is conservative. There are more studies to prove the same. A recent analysis from financial services company Nomura confirms what you’ve probably always suspected: Switching jobs will probably ...

By Eva Yeong Human resource (HR) practices in Malaysia must change and accept the fact that the average turnover for any individual in this day and age is two-and-a-half years, according to one panellist at the Global Business Services Forum 2017 yesterday. “In a HR organisation, have we evolved to the point that we really understand what talent management really means in the current day and age, and what it means five years down the road? It is not so much about how much you are going to pay, what great office painting you have on the wall, how big the CEO’s office is,” BAE Systems head of Malaysia engineering centre Rishesingar Ramasamy said during a panel discussion at the forum yesterday. He said the industry has a huge part to play in adapting to changes in talent management and it is unfair to put the onus on the government to enable job creation opportunities. “The average turnover for any individual is two to two-and-a-half years in any organisation here. That is the k...

By Syed Jaymal Zahid When 26-year-old Dhanni was faced with retrenchment from his oil and gas engineering job, he decided it was time to pursue a master’s degree in supply chain management. For Dhanni, who was among the thousands of engineers culled by oil and gas firms as a result of the global oil price rout which left a trail of devastation across the globe, news that many of his colleagues in the management side were left unscathed by the mass layoffs meant it was worth spending another year in school — not to mention a lot of money — to get a master’s degree in the business side of his field. He felt this would give him more job security. But Dhanni could be in for a big disappointment. While having a sterling CV with a good MA may appear to be the best way to stand out from the growing number of degree holders competing for that high-paying job, the opposite seems to be the case in today’s work market. As the Malaysian economy decelerates at a record five-year rate, high-payin...

By Wan Saiful Jan The philosophy guiding how a government relates with the people is something that not many Malaysians talk about. But if we go back to the early days of this country, ideology used to matter. In a speech delivered at IDEAS Annual Dinner on 20 February 2016, Tun Musa Hitam, Malaysia's former Deputy Prime Minister who started his political career under Tunku Abdul Rahman, said, "In those early days of our history, politics was more ideological than material. There were indeed, yes, indeed, two camps in Umno: the Tunku camp and the Razak camp. "The Tunku camp was clearly and unapologetically right wing, pro-west and pro-business. The Razak camp was allegedly socialist-communist inclined, a brand enough to scare and scuttle people away all the way in those days when communist terrorists were the biggest threat to our independence." This was a telling statement, because Musa was suggesting that the liberal administration of the Tunku was event...

This is one part of Alan Wood's writing featuring Ideas of Karl Marx Charles Darwin, who was an instinctive materialist, explained the evolution of species as a result of the effects of the natural environment. Karl Marx explained the development of humankind from the development of the “artificial” environment we call society. The difference lies, on the one hand, in the enormously complicated character of human society compared to the relative simplicity of nature and, secondly, in the greatly accelerated pace of change in society compared to the extraordinarily slow pace with which evolution by nation selection unfolds. On the base of the social relations of production—in other words, the relations between social classes—there arises complex legal and political forms with their manifold ideological, cultural and religious reflections. This complex edifice of forms and ideas is sometimes referred to as the social superstructure. Although it is always based on economic foundati...

By Kumaran Ira Amid growing global economic gloom, including a slowdown in China and falling oil and commodity prices, major companies throughout Europe are announcing mass layoffs and job cuts. Last Wednesday, US multinational General Electric (GE) announced plans to cut 6,500 jobs in Europe over the next two years, including 1,700 jobs in Germany, 570 in the UK, 765 in France and 1,300 in Switzerland. According to comments from the head of GE’s power division last September, this is part of a plan to squeeze out $3 billion in cost savings over five years. GE acquired French engineering company Alstom in a €9.7 billion deal in 2014, promising to create jobs. GE France spokesman Laurent Wormser said job cuts in France will hit mainly administrative jobs in the Paris area, in human resources, public relations and the legal department. After reaching an agreement with the trade unions, French nuclear group Areva announced plans for 6,000 job cuts worldwide, including in Germany, the Uni...

By Vincent Kolo Global financial markets started 2016 with a bang! A reprise of last summer’s chaotic falls on China’s stock markets triggered panic selling of shares, commodities and currencies around the world. The first six trading days for China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen markets saw the total value of the market shrink by 15 percent, a loss of US$1 trillion. Worldwide, US$4 trillion was wiped from stock markets as China fears spread. The world’s biggest stock market, New York, fell 6.2 percent in the first week of the year, its worst start ever. Does this set the tone for the world economy in 2016? The capitalist George Soros is among those predicting another financial crisis like that of 2008. China is the world’s second largest economy and biggest trading nation. The sharp slowdown that started two years ago in the Chinese economy has already brought profound crises to several countries that depend on commodity trade with China. This is clear in Brazil, facing its deepest d...

Barry Grey, WSWS Global stock markets plunged Friday as oil prices hit new lows, threatening to crash the junk bond market and trigger a new financial meltdown. Investor nervousness was heightened by the prospect of the US Federal Reserve Board raising interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade when it meets next week. Fed officials have repeatedly signaled to the financial markets that any increase will be small and interest rates will remain well below normal levels for an indefinite period. However, any increase from the current near-zero level will likely intensify a selloff of junk bonds, a large percentage of which are energy-related, threatening to destabilize the entire credit system. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 309 points (1.76 percent), the Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 39 points (1.94 percent), and the Nasdaq index fell 111 points (2.21 percent). For the week, the S&P 500 fell 3.8 percent, its worst week since late August, at the he...

Malaysia today is in the mess! The entire nation is in total mess! Barisan Nasional (BN) is making  a mess in our nation. The BN chairman is still in denial mode. He is playing hide and seek with the people. The BN chairman is hiding his head under the sand over the 1MDB scandal which caused billions of Ringgit loss. The BN chairman is also hiding under the sand over his "donation" of RM2.6 billion from an Arab businessman or corporation into his very personal account. Scandals after scandals. Billions after billions of Ringgit of public fund is just going to go missing again and again after all. To shift public attention from the billion dollar scandals, the "United Monkeys National Organization" has decided to pull the string by staging "The Rise of The Planet of The Apes" drama in red colours over our nation's capital during our Malaysia Day holiday to claim that a so-called race and religion is under threat of "going-off" soon si...

By Doug Enaa Greene In 2008 one of the best-selling novels in Japan was an eighty-year-old novel: Kanikosen (Crab Cannery Ship) by the communist author Takiji Kobayashi. The book is a story about a crew of fishermen who rebel against the wretched working conditions on a Japanese crabbing ship by going on strike and attempting to take over their ship. Amid the global financial crisis, the novel, previously selling a moderate five thousand copies per year shot up to sales of five hundred thousand. Four new manga versions were also produced, and in 2009 Japanese director Hiroyuki Tanaka (Sabu) made a film based on the novel. Kobayashi’s work touched a nerve in contemporary Japan, plagued by growing inequality, insecurity, and the effects of a two-decade economic slump. Kanikosen laid bare not only the grueling reality of capitalism, but also the possibility of united resistance by workers. Although Kobayashi’s Crab Cannery Ship has been in English translation since 1933 (albeit as an...