LABOUR BULLETIN : 02/10/15

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

JAPAN:::Wrong way to import workers

The government’s plan to expand the foreign trainee internship program to cover manpower shortages in nursing-care services for the elderly is problematic in multiple ways. It deviates from the purpose of the program to promote technical transfers to developing economies by training internees from those countries, while failing to properly address problems in the program, which is criticized for being widely used as a cover for exploiting low-cost labor from overseas. The government should explore other ways of securing enough nursing-care workers to meet the increasing needs of Japan’s rapidly aging population.

THE Philippines and Indonesia signed on Monday four agreements, including the joint declaration on the protection of migrants and migrant workers.

But during the joint statements of President Benigno Aquino III and his Indonesian counterpart, Joko Widodo, they did not mention about the case of a female Filipino convicted of drug smuggling and was supposed to be executed by firing squad.

The joint declaration signed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the promotion and protection of the rights of migrants and migrant workers, through such mechanisms as cooperation on the matter between their respective diplomatic and consular missions abroad.

MALAYSIA:::MTUC HQ LABOUR BULLETIN JANUARY 2015

2015

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim arriving at the Federal Court earlier today

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, whose coalition for the first time took 52% of the popular vote in the last general election, was today convicted for sodomy by Malaysia's highest court.

MALAYSIA:::PENURUNAN HARGA BARANGAN TIDAK BERLAKU WALAUPUN HARGA MINYAK PETROL TURUN

MTUC amat kecewa melihat tindakan sesetengah peniaga, pemborong, pengusaha dan pengeluar yang tidak mahu menurunkan harga barangan walaupun harga minyak petrol telah diturunkan bagi meringankan beban rakyat.

MTUC merasakan ini bukanlah masa untuk menuding jari dan menyalahkan mana-mana pihak, malah ini adalah masa bagi semua pihak termasuk semua kementerian yang terlibat mengambil inisiatif bagi menangani permasalahan ini secara hemat.

Apabila harga minyak petrol naik, semua barangan tanpa melibatkan kos terus atau kos sampingan telah dinaikan harganya dengan alasan bahawa harga pengangkutan mempengaruhi harga barangan. Kini apabila harga petrol turun tiada usaha yang diambil untuk menurunkan harga barangan yang dinaikkan. Malahan alasan kos operasi naik pula diungkitkan. Adakah ini munasabah?

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that the people should accept whatever verdict was delivered by the Federal Court on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II case tomorrow.

The former prime minister, who sacked Anwar in 1998 as the deputy prime minister and finance minister, said that in a country that upholds the law, any court decision should be accepted and respected.

Sodomy II: Federal Court to deliver verdict today

A total of 27 prosecution witnesses including star witness, Mohd Saiful, and eight defence witnesses including Anwar testified in the trial that took almost three years at the High Court which received attraction worldwide.

PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on the final appeal of PKR advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to set aside his five-year jail sentence forsodomisinghis former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, this morning.

Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, who is leading a five-member panel comprising Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Md Raus Shariff and Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar and Datuk Ramly Ali, expected to pronounce the ruling at 9am.

MALAYSIA:::Maid in Malaysia-Indonesia and Territorial Issues on Jokowi Visit Agenda

Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday this week for his three-day official visit to Malaysia, his first since being elected last year. Top on his agenda are two of the biggest unresolved issues affecting the two countries – foreign workers and territorial claims. A couple of days before that, yet another “maid issue” cropped up: an automatic vacuum cleaner company runs an advertisement with the words “Fire your Indonesian maid”.

Vanitha Nadaraj

A maid agency signage in Petaling Jaya. About 90 per cent of maids in Malaysia are reported to be from Indonesia.

Netizens in both countries were furious over what was deemed as an insult to the 400,000 Indonesian maids working in Malaysia and Indonesians in general. The website of the Malaysian distributor of the company RoboVac was hacked and a warning posted.

Indonesia sent a formal protest note to the Malaysian government on Tuesday. Vice President Jusuf Kalla criticised RoboVac and even went to the extent of saying that Indonesia would consider re-introducing a moratorium on labour supply to Malaysia for up to five years.

In 2009, Indonesia cut off supply of domestic workers to Malaysia due to numerous reports of abuse by Malaysian employers and agents. Horrific accounts of maid abuse in the local media triggered street protests in Jakarta and also the burning of the Malaysian flag in the compound of the Malaysian embassy in Jakarta.

Kuala Lumpur – Penyampai radio Salam FM, Mohamed Noor Mohamed Yusof mendakwa dipecat daripada stesen radio berfokuskan dakwah kelolaan Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (Jakim), berkuatkuasa 30 Januari lalu apabila bertanyakan mengenai tunggakan gaji.

Juruhebah yang lebih dikenali sebagai DJ Noor itu berkata, paling menyedihkan apabila beliau hanya dimaklumkan mengenai pemecatan tersebut melalui aplikasi pesanan Whatsapp sejurus selesai menjalankan tugasan pada jam 8.00 pagi.