the blogging syed shahir

SHAH ALAM: Kehadiran pihak-pihak tertentu untuk berbincang dengan Bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Mahathir Mohamad akan hanya memberi kredit kepada beliau.

Presiden Kesatuan Sekerja Malaysia (MTUC), Syed Shahir Mohamud berkata demikian ketika dalam ucapan perasmian Mesyuarat Agung Tahunan Parti Keadilan Rakyat Bahagian Shah Alam 9 Julai lepas.

Syed Shahir berkata, beliau menerima sekurang-kurangnya enam panggilan dan pesanan ringkas (SMS) daripada beberapa pihak mengajak beliau untuk menghadiri forum bersama Tun Mahathir yang diadakan di ibukota baru-baru ini.

Memandangkan pada waktu panggilan itu dibuat, Syed Shahir berada di Switzerland untuk memenuhi beberapa jemputan daripada badan sekerja di Negara tersebut.

Syed Shahir memberitahu agar pihak-pihak yang beriya untuknya hadir untuk bersabar sehingga beliau pulang selesaikan tugas di Switzerland.

Sebaik sahaja beliau pulang, panggilan tidak henti-henti memujuk beliau untuk turut serta dalam majlis forum tersebut.

Walaubagaimanapun, beliau mengambil keputusan untuk menolak jemputan tersebut memandangkan perkara-perkara lalu yang dilakukan oleh bekas Perdana Menteri itu.

“Kalau disamak pun, najis-najis Mahathir tidak dapat mencuci kesalahannya,” ucap Syed Shahir.

Syed Shahir yang menumpaskan musuh tradisinya, Zainal Rampak selepas empat pemilihan jawatan Presiden MTUC berkata, sungguhpun Mahathir mengecam kenaikan harga bahan bakar pun, masih tidak dapat mengubah perhatian saya untuk berkompromi dengan Mahathir.

Syed Shahir yang baru melancarkan bukunya, ‘Pekerja Malaysia: Terpinggir di Bumi Kaya!’ 24 Jun lepas di salah sebuah hotel terkemuka di ibukota juga menyentuh mengenai kesan pentadbiran Tun Mahathir ketika beliau menjadi Perdana Menteri terhadap golongan pekerja.

Dalam tulisannya, bertajuk, ‘Melayu Mana Dilindungi Mahathir’, Syed Shahir berkata Mahathir gagal untuk melindungi kepentingan orang Melayu bawahan pada umumnya.

“Mahathir juga tidak menggalakkan penubuhan kesatuan sekerja dalam industri elektronik, terutama sekali kesaatuan masional (national union),” tulisnya.

Dalam ucapan yang dihadiri oleh Pengerusi Perhubungan Negeri Selangor, Abdul Rahim Wahab, pimpinan Pas Shah Alam dan kepimpinan Angkatan Muda Pusat, beliau berkata sekiranya beliau mengambil keputusan untuk hadir juga, ia akan memberi satu tambahan markah kepada Tun (Mahathir) dan satu kekurangan markah buat saya.

Seluruh Bahagian KeADILan kini sedang sibuk mengadakan mesyuarat Agung masing-masing bagi memilih perwakilan ke Kongres Nasional Tahunan Parti itu yang akan diadakan di Pulau Pinang, 1-3 September akan datang.

Syed Shahir juga merupakan Ketua Bahagian KeADILan Penaja Kelana Jaya.

May 14, 06 — Malaysia and Indonesia have signed a deal which will offer better protection from abuse for Indonesian maids, a report said today.

Malaysia depends heavily on foreign maids but they enjoy little protection under labour laws. The maids often live in and work all day every day to earn less than RM400 a month.

“Although the problems involved only a small number, this MoU (memorandum of understanding) will settle the issue once and for all as the Indonesians were worried,” Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was quoted as telling reporters in Bali, by the Star daily.

“We just want them (maids) to come and work for us, so please take care of them as they are also human beings,” he said.

Under the agreement employers will be required to sign personal contracts with their maids stipulating the wages agreed upon by both parties, said the report.

Copies of the contract must then be sent to the Indonesian embassy, it added.

The maids, who must sign a letter of acceptance before they can start work, may also open a bank account under their own names.

Employers are also barred from withholding pay for the first four or five months of a contract as often happens in practice now. Agents frequently take money and say it is to recover costs incurred in bringing the maids in from Indonesia.

The deal will not affect the 310,000 Indonesian maids already working in Malaysia, but employers will need to abide by the new arrangements when renewing their maids’ two-year contracts.

No increase in pay

The signing of the deal was witnessed by Abdullah and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday.

The two countries have been locked in negotiations over the problems faced my maids since 2002, but had previously failed to reach an agreement.

One stumbling block had been Indonesia’s bid to secure a minimum monthly wage of RM500, a demand which appears to have been dropped.

An Indonesian maid at the centre of a high-profile abuse case recently told a Malaysian court that she was repeatedly branded on the breasts with a hot iron for failing to iron her employer’s clothes properly.

The employer faces a maximum jail term of 20 years if found guilty.

Rights activists have urged employers to provide maids with a weekly holiday, protection from abuse and a minimum wage. They say any labor agreement must ensure the right of workers to a fair minimum wage and a 24-hour rest period per week.

- AFP

Wong Yeen Fern (Malaysiakini)

Jul 8, 06 — Tenaganita has described the basic conditions in the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Malaysia and Indonesia on the employment of domestic workers as “weak” and urged that they be made more specific.

Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez told malaysiakini that the two governments should define the conditions specifically and clearly in the coming meeting on the MoU on July 20.

Under the MoU, signed in Bali on May 13 this year, Malaysian employers will be required to sign personal contracts with their Indonesian maids in relation to the stipulation of wages.

However, Fernandez said, the stipulations in the contract were not specific, adding that there was no mention of a minimum wage to be paid for the Indonesian maids.

“It is not fair to them (Indonesian maids) that even a minimum wage was not stipulated, this is wrong.

“What they are paid now is one of the lowest wages. It is only RM350 and this is kind of dehumanising towards the maids, ” said Fernandez.

She hope that the July meeting on the MoU would rectify the matter.

Definition of ‘worker’

Another point stressed by the Tenaganita director was the matter of protection for the Indonesian maids and the definition of ‘domestic worker’.

“For instance, the definition of domestic worker is different from the definition of ‘worker’ outlined in our Employment Act. The Indonesian maids are not ‘protected’ because they are known as domestic workers and not recognised as ‘workers’.

Fernandez also called for the definition of domestic workers to be specifically stated as in the Employment Act in order for them to be entitled to the protection outlined in the act.

“Also, it appears that the existing conditions regarding basic human rights and dignity outlined in the memorandum are very vague, for instance, the reduction of violence against maids and adequate services dealing with the problems they faced were not included in the list of conditions of the MoU,” added Fernandez.

THE CHANGING NEEDS OF SOCIETY - A CASE FOR SOCIAL PENSIONS

The need for social pensions for those 60 years and above are more apparent today that it was in the years before. The reasons are as follows :

The cost of living has increased tremendously and the `real value’ of savings has been reduced as a result of it. The savings of pensioners are no longer sufficient to tide them through the remaining years of their lives.

The system of family-support which people enjoyed over the years have become a rarity. The extended family concept has been replaced by the `nuclear family’, with people also having fewer children.

The younger generation, generally, do not have the means to support their older folks due to an ever-increasing materialistic way of life.

Healthcare in the country, which is almost fully-privatised, has eaten away a large chunk of the incomes of the elderly citizens.

It is obvious that the senior citizens in this country are facing challenging times. A question that beckons is : Are we right in allowing our senior citizens suffer in silence when they had been the foundation of our economy for many years ?

The answer to that question would obviously be in the negative - as no citizen in this country should be allowed to live in poverty or have his/her standard of living compromised on.

Given the excesses which we have seen in recent times, it would not cost the Government a drain on its coffers to implement this scheme. A case in point would be the recent controversy on the Approved Permits, where the rich had been made `super-rich’. Surely, we can all unite to ensure that the Government does something for the categories of people who are suffering.