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By : LILEI CHOW
NST Online » Columns
2008/03/30
ASK anyone in Machang where they can get the best kuih siput and chances are they'll point you to a modest wooden residence in Pangkal Changgong that houses Umi Kartini's kitchen.
The slight Kelantan native started making these traditional seashell-shaped snacks 12 years ago when she realised that the RM300 monthly allowance from her husband simply could not cover living expenses for her growing family.
Before she was 21, Umi worked at the Motorola factory in Sungai Way, and never once missed a day's work.
She left the company in 1987 when pregnant with her first child.
For a while, she told me with a smile, her main job was producing babies.
As she put it, bluntly, Umi asyik hamil, bersalin, hamil, bersalin! ("Umi was busy getting pregnant, delivering, pregnant, delivering!")
The second of four wives, she knew that it was unrealistic to ask for the additional finances needed to make ends meet.
Her husband is a school teacher and now has 19 children to feed.
She realised that if she wanted to see her own seven children through school, she had to find her own source of income.
The demands of her school-going children meant that formal employment was not an option.
In between house chores and nursing, Umi learned how to make kuih siput from a neighbour. She laboured in her kitchen until she got the ratio of flour to margarine to salt just right.
Kuih siput is not unlike murukku: it has both sweet and savoury varieties but it contains considerably less spices than its Indian counterpart.
Although the ingredients are simple and relatively inexpensive, Umi tells me that the reason why not many people make the snack anymore is because it is exceedingly tedious.
It requires you to hand roll each piece and quickly fry it in hot oil.
Once Umi had perfected her own recipe, she began accepting small orders from family and friends.
Each packet she sold earned her 30 sen.
She also started taking packets of her product to a few sundry shops within Machang. She was turned away.
Undeterred, she decided to stand in front of the shops and give free samples to passers-by.
Business picked up slowly and over time, she secured a micro-credit loan which enabled her to buy in bulk and hire a little help during festive periods.
But like many other women who start cottage enterprises due to necessity or circumstances, Umi didn't really know what was needed to take her business to the next level.
Last year, Umi was asked if she would like to join the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Entrepreneurial Skills Training Programme.
She set one condition: that she be allowed to bring her newborn.
The sponsors agreed, and in fact, encouraged the participation of family members, including husbands.
The pilot project, developed with the Malay Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development, seeks to support women entrepreneurs from low-income households in rural Kelantan and Terengganu, the two states with the highest poverty rates in Peninsular Malaysia.
It has helped more than 50 women involved in the cottage food industry turn profits by widening access to much-needed financing, creating markets where none existed and sharpening business acumen.
From costing and marketing classes to motivation and grooming, Umi's perseverance and dedication to the project won her the award of Best Participant from Machang as well as the affection of her fellow course mates.
Like many of the other women in the project, Umi's profits go entirely towards clothing, feeding and educating her children.
Her entrepreneurial spirit and determination to build a better life for herself and her children demonstrate the infallible logic of investing in women and girls.
Today, women make up all of micro-credit loan recipients by Amanah Ikhtiar (with a payback rate of 99 per cent on loans), modelled after Bangladesh's Grameen Bank.
Grameen founder Muhammad Yunus once said, "We saw that money going to women brought much more benefit to the family than money going to the men.
"So we changed our policy and gave a high priority to women."
On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, UNDP administrator Kemal Dervis said: "Investing in women and girls is not only a worthy goal in its own right, it is the one of the fastest and best means of advancing human development for all."
We know that while the more visible women's lobby groups (and rightly so) are calling for a greater say in political affairs and a level playing field in the boardroom, in many parts of the developing world, women continue to toil in plantation fields and homeless girls live in garbage dumps.
And others have to beg on crowded streets to feed themselves while being denied the right to own land or be financially independent.
And while women's overall employment rates are increasing, they still perform 60 per cent of the informal or unpaid jobs.
It is no coincidence that the countries which perform the best on UNDP's gender-related development index are among the world's wealthiest.
Thirty-two years since Yunus pioneered the world's first credit delivery system targeted at the rural poor, micro-credit financing coupled with skills training continues to be an effective strategy in alleviating poverty and creating self employment opportunities.
At the heart of his philosophy is perhaps the most striking lesson of development: that the people who are struggling with the problem are also usually best placed to find the solution.
The success stories of "entrepreneurs next door" like Umi illustrate the benefits of promoting women's empowerment for the benefit of the family.
I've been told to expect the roll out of Umi's snacks carrying the brand name "Kartini's Foods" at Giant and Mydin hypermarkets in the near future. Kelantan is waiting.
The writer is with the United Nations Development Programme and can be reached at lilei.chow@undp.org
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parliament
17/04/2003
KUALA LUMPUR April 16 - A senator Wednesday called on the Land and Cooperative Development Ministry to expedite the implementation of a law provision which allowed the naming of wives on land grants under the Felda scheme.
Senator Halimah Hamzah said the move was necessary to ensure the well-being of women particularly in the event of polygamy.
Based on a study conducted in Felda areas in Pahang, many settlers would practice polygamy once they had attained wealth, she said while debating the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's speech in the Senate here.
"Therefore I refute the statement by Women and Family Development Minister Tuesday that only 15 out of every 1,000 men practice polygamy as the situation in these Felda areas show the opposite," she said.
To a question by Senator Datuk Yaakob Mohammed, Halimah said there were more men than women in Felda areas who supported the opposition.
This, she said, was a result of settlers from other states who brought their own idealogies to the respective Felda areas.
"The problem arises when men influence the women to support the opposition ... and women are known to be loyal to their husbands and leaders," she said.
When Yaakob stood up again to suggest that women advised their husbands to support the government, Halimah replied: "That is the problem, men are stubborn."
Halimah said it was evident that women had contributed a lot to ensure UMNO's victory in elections and that their efforts should be appreciated.
Meanwhile, Senator Siw Chun a/p Eam called on the Education Ministry to provide allocation for the Siamese community in the country to study the Siamese language in `village schools' and 'wat'.
Besides that, the aid would also enable the setting up of a proper place for them to study and at the same time attract people from other races to learn the language.
"Currently, the younger generation of Malaysian Siamese learn to speak and write the Siamese language from Buddhist monks as it is not taught in government schools.
"If there is government aid (provided), then it (Siamese language) could be developed as many of my friends from other races are also interested in learning this language," Siw said, adding the move was also in line with government objectives for locals to acquire more languages.
Meanwhile, Senator Datuk Mohamad Taha Ariffin called for measures to be taken to reduce `politicking' in sports organisations which could indirectly affect developments in the country's sporting field.
"We can actually go much further if cooperation among departments, ministries and sports bodies is enhanced," he said.
Besides that, Mohamad Taha also urged the government to be firmer in efforts to instill civic-mindedness among the community, particularly the younger generation.
Senator See Too Mee during the debate said the responsibility to raise the standard and dignity of the Senate lies on the shoulders of its members.
"I realise that many people are of the view that the Senate is no longer important, a `rubber stamp' or 'an old folks' home' for veteran politicians. However, this depends on the roles played by respective members.
"If members see it (Senate) as unimportant, then it is correct how others perceive it to be, but if members feel that this institution can still play its role, then we must correct the perception of others," he said.
The Dewan Negara will sit again Thursday.
Recent tenders suggest KL has yet to make good its promise of transparency
By S JAYASANKARAN KL CORRESPONDENT
Published July 23, 2007
WHEN Abdullah Ahmad Badawi took over as Malaysia's Prime Minister from Mahathir Mohamad in November 2003, he touted transparency and openness as some of the key planks of his administration. He said corruption would be fought and that accountability had to be a cornerstone of his government.
He also said the dishing out of government projects would go back to the days of yore which meant the pre-Dr Mahathir days when contracts were up for grabs to anyone who was qualified, through open tenders. It was heady talk and, in the 2004 general elections, it earned Mr Abdullah the largest electoral mandate in Malaysian history.
We would concede that there is more openness nowadays, and a slightly more robust press. Mr Abdullah has also delivered on his promise to reform government-linked corporations (GLCs), to make them create more value for shareholders.
But we would like to repeat the question: whatever happened to open tenders? Indeed, where projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan and the growth corridors are concerned, it would seem that open tenders have been chucked out the window in favour of GLCs.
Last week, there were reports that state-owned UEM World would build the second bridge to Penang together with a mainland Chinese firm that would provide the consortium a soft loan of US$900 million. In the Iskandar Development Region down south, Malaysian Resources Corp, a company controlled by the state-owned Employees Provident Fund, is tipped to snag the RM1 billion (S$445 million) Eastern Dispersal Link, a highway that will scythe through the Iskandar development and end up in Johor Baru.
Next week, yet another growth corridor will be unveiled, this time the so-called Northern Corridor encompassing the states of Northern Perak, Kedah, Penang and Perlis. Sime Darby, a conglomerate controlled by state agency Permodalan Nasional Bhd, was tapped to do its master plan and is likely to garner a lion's share of its projects including a lucrative extension of the Penang International Airport.
Indeed, one is hard out to pick out a single government contract that was offered out on the basis of an open, competitive tender. And even when there were, the final outcomes seemed strange to say the least.
Example: an open tender to build a power plant in Sabah finally went to a consortium comprising state utility Tenaga Nasional and two other companies, all of whom had bid separately for the project. It would seem that Tenaga would do the job while the others would enjoy the ride. Quite apart from unfulfilled promises, the practice of preferring government-owned companies over other firms isn't very healthy for the development of Malaysia's private sector. The heft of GLCs and their capacity to acquire cheaper financing than their peers will tend to crowd out private firms and that cannot be a good thing. Many of Malaysia's construction firms, faced with dwindling domestic jobs after the Asian financial crisis, cut their teeth on overseas projects and have more than proved their worth. But the way things are going, they seem destined to continue to be ignored in their own country.
____
Updated : 12-07-2007
Media : The Star
Story By : N/A
via www.biznewsdb.com
KUALA LUMPUR: Negotiations on the amount of compensation for the consortium that was contracted to build the now aborted Broga incinerator are still ongoing.
And so, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, he could not reveal how much the compensation would be.
He said this when he was asked to comment on rumours that compensation would be between RM500mil and RM700mil.
"No, that is off the mark. I can't give the real figure but the number given is not accurate," he said, after receiving RM170,000 worth of pharmaceutical products that the Chemical Company of Malaysia Bhd donated to Malaysian peacekeepers in Lebanon.
On July 6, the Putrajaya Court of Appeal heard that the Government had cancelled the RM1.5bil incinerator project.
Najib also reiterated that the Government decided not to continue with the project was because of the high operational costs.
¡§Not only are the capital costs high, but the operational costs too. This means it would be very exorbitant for the local authorities which makes it untenable as it would have to be passed on to the consumer.¡¨
Later, Najib flagged off the Kembara Merdeka Cape Town ¡V Kuala Lumpur 2007 expedition at the Defence Ministry yesterday.
Fifty participants in 13 vehicles from the ministry and the army will travel about 20,058km through 14 countries over 33 days.
www.biznewsdb.com
Anil Netto
Jul 13, 07 10:50am
Unexpected criticism of Malaysia's race-based affirmative-action policy by the European Union's top envoy reveals underlying concerns that this could be a major stumbling block to unrestricted market access for European multinational firms in the region.
On June 21, EU envoy Thierry Rommel sparked a furor when he said Malaysia's so-called New Economic Policy (NEP), which favours economically disadvantaged ethnic Malays and other indigenous groups known as bumiputeras in business, share ownership, employment and educational opportunities, amounts to protectionism and is discriminatory even in cases when foreign firms are in partnership with local partners.
"Malaysia claims these are infant industries that need to be protected, but in reality ... it is the [ethnic] Malay-centered policy that drives protectionist policies," he was quoted saying. Malaysia is sending an official protest to the EU over Rommel's remark, contending that it "was tantamount to interfering in Malaysia's domestic affairs and policies". 
Rommel's remarks are being seen as the opening salvo ahead of talks for a free-trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean), scheduled to begin next month. Free-trade critics have frequently pointed out that many now-developed countries, including the United States, practiced protectionism for decades in the early stages of their industrial development.
The EU has traditionally pursued a twin approach in its trade negotiations: a multilateral approach at the World Trade Organization (WTO) hedged by a host of bilateral FTAs that have grown in importance since the Doha Round of negotiations has stumbled. Unlike developed nations outside Europe, the EU has favoured a bi-regional approach, preferring to negotiate with other trading blocs on a region-to-region basis - but only after contentious non-trade issues have been dealt with.
One huge blank spot
But despite having the most bilateral agreements, the EU has one huge blank spot on its world map: Asia. Last October, an EU document titled "Global Europe: Competing in the World" put EU competitiveness at the forefront of its trade policy and outlined a more aggressive approach in opening foreign markets to European firms. The document in particular highlighted the market potential of Asia.
Lagging behind the US and Japan, two of its major global competitors that have already moved ahead in the FTA stakes in Asia, the EU has now turned its attention to forging deals with Asean, South Korea and India. But unlike the United States' and Japan's FTAs, the EU's aims to go through its bilateral arrangements, covering not only the reduction of tariffs but also the convergence of regulatory systems and the removal of non-tariff and technical barriers.
Malaysia's NEP is a major stumbling block to this goal, especially its policy of favouring local bumiputera-owned firms in awarding government contracts. This same issue has delayed the still-ongoing Malaysia-US FTA negotiations.
The EU has been prepared to sponsor initiatives to liberalise a dozen priority sectors in Asean as it embarks on formal FTA talks in July in Vietnam. This month, it launched a RM33.2 million (US$9.5 million) program to support the Asean integration process, which is expected to give rise to a common Asean market by 2015. But critics have warned that an FTA with the EU would hasten the introduction of neo-liberal policies in Asean and actually harm local economies while widening income disparities.
"This EU-Asean Free Trade Agreement, like so many other FTAs, talks up the prospect of open-door trade, growth and all-around prosperity," said Glasgow-based political scientist John Hilley, who has written about neo-liberalism and Southeast Asian politics, in e-mailed comments. "But, behind every juicy free-trade carrot lurks a menacing neo-liberal stick."
Hilley said it is indicative of the EU's own selective world view that it continues to maintain "fortress-type" protectionist policies against less developed countries, most notably in Africa, while at the same time advocating these kinds of free-market engagements. "Thus we have to look behind the fine words of such arrangements to see who mainly benefits from them. As ever, it's the big multinationals," he said.
FTA advocates, however, argue that a bilateral pact with the EU holds out the prospect of greater access to lucrative European markets for the bigger enterprises within Asean. Others warn that an FTA could also be harmful for the small and medium-scale enterprises in the region. 
Entrench Umno people
In Malaysia, the NEP itself has given rise to a new ethnic-Malay middle class, but critics point out that it has also spawned a culture of corruption, cronyism and ethnic discrimination. Intra-ethnic and regional disparities have also widened. With the advent of neo-liberal policies in the late 1980s and 1990s, its effectiveness as a tool for wealth redistribution has been widely questioned.
Critics argue that the NEP has instead been used to promote the interests of the rich and entrench the ruling United Malays National Organisation, whose politicians are loath to compromise on it. Not surprisingly, non-Malays who feel that the NEP discriminates against them would also like to see the back of this policy, and in general tend to welcome greater economic liberalisation.
One Indian-Malaysian medical specialist who complained about discrimination in education and government jobs observed that middle-class non-Malays are caught between the status quo and full-blown liberalisation.
"Where do we go from here? Only the multinational companies can provide the job opportunities for our children who are capable and brilliant," he remarked. 
Economist Charles Santiago of the Kuala Lumpur-based Monitoring Globalisation think-tank noted, "Non-Malays are so tired of the discrimination against them that many of them would support an FTA.
"But they have to keep in mind the larger implications of an FTA, which means that whether you are a Chinese, Malay or Kadazan [an ethnic groups indigenous to Sabah state] businessman or woman, you will face stiff competition from [transnational corporations] who are technologically superior," he warned. "It will be a takeover of our businesses in the long run."
He pointed out that the promises made by the EU in other countries it has free-trade deals with, such as Mexico, have not materialised. In the case of the EU-Mexico FTA that took effect in 2000, one report pointed out that Mexico's trade deficit ballooned from $9.4 billion in 2000 to $16.9 billion in 2006.
"There is a hidden agenda here," said Santiago. "They [EU officials] are in effect saying, 'You guys open up your economy so that our European investors can take over your market.'"
NST Online » Columns
2007/06/29
LIKE so many others, I had thought that Karen Armstrong’s public lecture in mid-June would focus on the unsettling relationship between religion and politics in the 21st century.
The religious historian and former nun did give an account on how religion has been implicated in the catastrophes of the 20th and 21st centuries and how the growth of militant piety in all the major religions as a response to the challenge of modernity has led to a distortion of faith.
But for me, it was her focus on how to find common ground among all religions and what constitutes good and bad religion that made the biggest impact.
As someone constantly battling suffocating patriarchy justified in the name of religion, I was moved by the strength and utter simplicity of her spiritual message.
She feels many people have turned away from religion because it is made so complicated in its emphasis on doctrine rather than practice. We are so obsessed with being right in our doctrine instead of being just in our practice, she says. Thus, her emphasis is on practical compassion as a way to be religious, to attain enlightenment.
She believes the most important virtue in religion is compassion — this does not mean feeling sorry for the others; it means feeling with them, displacing our own ego at the centre of our lives and putting others there. It means to look into our inner self, find out what distresses us and refuse to inflict this upon others.
And it’s not good enough if we confine our compassion only to our own group. We must extend it to others as well. She strongly believes in the golden rule of not doing unto others what you don’t want done to yourself.
Since preoccupation with compassion is common to all religions, she believes this can establish one common ground that enables us to live together and respect each other.
We didn’t need Armstrong to come to Malaysia to tell us this, of course. But the standing room-only audience of all religions and races was a telling sign that we wanted to hear a voice of reason, wisdom and compassion that could help us make sense of a world that has become so polarised and unjust, and how we can make religion a source of solutions, rather than a source of problems.
As I listened to her, I wondered how many of us in the audience would really be thinking through what she was saying and applying it in our lives. It did not take long for reality to hit home. The second person to ask a question began by giving his salam only to the Muslim brothers in the room and a good morning to others.
I cringed as I felt the murmur in the hall. A Christian friend behind me muttered that she was being excluded in this man’s greeting of peace, and a Muslim woman next to her remarked that even Muslim sisters were excluded. I felt compelled at the end of the talk to approach the older man to try to understand why he started his comment about the need to be considerate of others by excluding and "othering" so many in the hall.
I have been thinking about all that has gone wrong with the practice of my religion where too many of us are obsessed with what we believe is doctrine, rather than practise what reflects the justice of God.
On Wednesday, a Chinese Muslim friend came for advice on how she could make sure that her property, her Employees’ Provident Fund and insurance benefits would go to her Buddhist parents and siblings should she die. She is a convert and is divorced. She has no children, and under Muslim inheritance laws, non-Muslims cannot inherit from a Muslim. But she wants all her hard-earned assets to go to her parents and siblings, and not to Baitulmal.
Just the other night, a friend emailed from California, saying her grandmother had died, leaving a house to her mother and her two aunts. They are in the midst of selling the house, but Baitulmal is demanding its share because the three daughters are entitled to only two-thirds of the property. In the absence of residual male heirs, one-third should go to Baitulmal under our Shafie school of law.
But under the Hanafi and Hanbali schools, daughters can inherit all. Needless to say, the three sisters, all in their sixties and seventies, are very upset about this.
For me, it is public deeds that will test the place of Islam in the 21st century. We all know what theory says — that Islam is a just and peaceful religion. That more than any other religion, it recognises pluralism, differences and disputation. It was revolutionary in granting women rights unheard of in the 7th century, the right to inherit, own and dispose of property, the right to enter a contract and the right to be treated as an equal.
In fact, according to Armstrong, the Crusaders were shocked at how well women were treated in Muslim land, and the scholar monks in Europe criticised Islam for being too egalitarian and giving too much respect to ordinary people, especially women.
Where and how it went wrong remain the subject of books and articles, even as I write this. But as I told a group of young women at the Feminista Fiesta two weekends ago, we can begin to make it right by doing little things to make a difference, to make someone’s life better, to show compassion not just to those who share our faith but to others as well.
Yesterday, even though it was my day off, I visited two Indian restaurants in Bangsar which were raided by a team of enforcement officers from the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim), Federal Territory Islamic Department (Jawi) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall over their halal certification.
I went because my niece’s young Chinese friend who was eating in one of the restaurants was so distressed by the show of power and intimidation by the religious officials (10 inside the restaurant and more milling outside) that she says she cannot bring herself to speak up for this country any more when it is unfavourably compared to others.
I wanted to join my niece in assuring her that the action of those little Napoleons does not represent the belief or have the support of most other Muslims.
Armstrong says any belief that makes you compassionate, kind and respectful of others is a good religion. If your beliefs make you intolerant, unkind and belligerent, this is bad religion, no matter how orthodox it is.
Aha … could this be why her celebrated books on Prophet Muhammad, the Battle for God and the History of God are banned in Malaysia?
Thank God that although one arm of the government, the Internal Security Ministry on the recommendation of Jakim, banned the books, another arm of the government, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Institute for Diplomatic and Foreign Relations saw the wisdom in inviting the author to give a keynote address on "Bridging the gap between Islam and the West" and a public lecture on religion in the 21st century. These days, we should be grateful for little mercies that confusion brings.
The Associated Press
Published: June 14, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A house that a 73-year-old tycoon bought for his mistress belongs to her and he cannot have it back, a court has ruled in a landmark judgment establishing legal rights of extramarital lovers in Malaysia.
The Court of Appeals ruling Thursday provides some closure in a 19-year dispute between Singaporean tycoon Goh Koon Suan and his Malaysian former lover, Heng Gek Kiau, 56, the New Straits Times and The Star newspapers reported Friday.
"You squeezed her like a lemon and later cast her aside like an old shoe," Judge Gopal Sri Ram of the Court of Appeals was quoted as telling Goh in his ruling. "Surely you cannot use her like that and later claim she has no right," he said.
Court officials could not be immediately reached for comment on the reports.
The Times said Goh bought a house for Heng in 1981 in Malaysia's southern state of Johor, bordering Singapore.
It said their relationship soured in 1988 when he demanded the house back. She refused, and Goh went to the High Court, which ruled in his favor, saying Heng had held the property in trust because she was not married to him.
But Sri Ram overturned the High Court judgment, saying he would not allow injustice in his court.
He said even mistresses can have rights and no longer be treated like chattel.
"The principles of equity are not cast in stone and they change according to circumstances of a contemporary society," he said, adding that women in Heng's position would have no rights if the laws remained static.
Goh had met Heng, then a 16-year-old illegal immigrant from Indonesia, in Singapore in 1968.
Goh, who was already married, brought Heng to Malaysia where he purchased the house and registered it under her name. In 1984, Heng, who obtained Malaysian citizenship, gave birth to a boy and Goh began supporting them with a monthly maintenance.
Heng's lawyer, P.K. Nathan, told the court that Heng was the rightful owner because she continued to pay all government taxes on the house, and had even used her own money to renovate it.
Goh owns a jewelry shop, hardware outlet and construction company in Singapore.
It was not immediately clear whether Goh would appeal to Malaysia's highest court, the Federal Court.
Nation 15 June 2007
PUTRAJAYA: Women, including mistresses, have rights in modern-day society and therefore should not be treated as chattel, the Court of Appeal ruled in a landmark decision.
Justice Gopal Sri Ram said following an English case law in 1858, the English courts at that time did not recognise the rights of women as they were then only considered as chattel.
However, he said the concepts in equity were not carved in stone and have since evolved according to the circumstances of contemporaneous society.
“Otherwise, women will have no rights at all today.
“Do you think in this day and age we should apply principles relevant to society, which treat women as chattel? It would be a retrogressive step.”
He said this in a landmark decision that unanimously allowed babysitter Heng Gek Kiau's appeal against a High Court decision to order her to transfer a single storey semi-detached house in Taman Sri Skudai, Johor Baru to her then lover Goh Koon Suan.
The High Court then had declared that Goh, a wealthy Singaporean businessman, was the owner of the property and that his mistress Heng had only held it in trust for him.
Justice Sri Ram, who sat with Justices Zainun Ali and Hasan Lah, said the decision in this case was “ground breaking” as this was the first time a court of law has ruled that a mistress has rights.
The Court of Appeal, in setting aside the High Court's orders, ordered Goh, 72, to pay costs.
The appellate court judges also ordered that Goh release the house's title deed to Heng and remove a private caveat he had lodged on that property.
In his statement of claim, Goh stated in 1968, that he met Heng, an Indonesian illegal immigrant then and five years later he cohabitated with her.
He claimed in 1980, after she had become a Malaysian citizen, he bought the house but kept the title deed with him.
Heng claimed that Goh bought her the house but throughout her stay, she had maintained and paid for all the utilities including the land assessment rate and the quit rent.
Updated:2007-06-04 20:42:11 MYT
Recently, over and again government buildings turn up to face serious contract problems. Malaysians are shocked and begin to lose their faith in the government.
Why? Why? Why? And why? Perhaps this is the question Malaysians have in their mind after seeing all these problems.
Yes, it is water leaking again. The frequency of water leaking among government buildings is just like what the MPs said: "bocor" once a month. What a shame!
Continuous mistakes reveal the flaw of the government's existing contractual system. It is an anticipated outcome of unfair and non-transparent contract awarding system. And now we are paying for the price:
Firstly the Works Ministry's reputation, already very weak, now receives a further blow. Secondly, the government has to fork out another big sum of public fund to fix the mess. Thirdly, Malaysians are getting frustrated and the government's image is once again shattered.
In the 60s, someone explained the abbreviation of JKR (Jabatan Kerja Raya) as "Jangan Kerja Rajin" (Don't Work Hard). Such criticism was caused by the extra time taken to complete government projects which were almost always unable to finish on time. However, government buildings then were much more reliable and seldom presented contract problems, unlike the situation nowadays. Sometime it has fungus and mould, and sometimes it is cracking and collapsing, or leaking.
Since the 1980s, privatisation has become the hottest word. Water privatisation, electricity services privatisation, telecommunication services privatisation, and now even highways are privatised. At the same time, in order to assist more bumiputra entrepreneurs, many government projects have been handed to private bumiputra contractors. (According to
the Works Minister himself, 96% of government project contractors are bumiputra entrepreneurs).
Well, let's put aside whether this is fair, reasonable or transparent. The current issue of the contractual problems of government buildings is the best example to show how "not correct" this "politically correct" principle is. This also tells us that privatisation does not guarantee quality improvement, nor does it guarantee excellent services.
Buildings with contractual problems are the consequences of jerry-built practices. And does these jerry-built practices tell us about the existence of corruption and bribery taking place under the table? The government cannot blame the media for agreeing with the opposition; nor can it blame the media for making opposition parties "heroes." What the government needs to do is to carry out its duty conscientiously. It is same with the media and opposition parties, too.
The government has been mandated by the people, and it must therefore be responsible for is work as a supervisor--to supervise the public servants, government projects and ensure that all contractors build strong, safe and reliable buildings.
No matter what, the government must not forget that the public service system is meant to serve the citizens and not a handful of privileged companies. Privatised companies cannot merely make profits without providing the proper services.
Meanwhile, the government has just raised the salaries of civil servants, and Malaysians therefore hope to receive better services in return. Public servants must remember that the RM80 million is paid by the taxpayers including you and me, and not the government. If this extra 80 million each year does not change the quality of their services, then the money is as
well wasted.
We also hope that this RM80 million will provide a better environment for the country and the society. With the pay increment, it can improve the civil servants' quality of life and encourage them to be more positive, hardworking and efficient in carrying out their jobs. It in turn will bring more wealth to the country and create a better living for all Malaysians.
To be a responsible government, the most important thing is that it must ensure that all the projects are carried out completely and well. (By Lim Mun Fah, Sin Chew Daily)
( The opinions expressed by the writer do not necessarily reflect those of Sinchew-i )
| 69 Kg Berembang residents in joint suit against developer Soon Li Tsin May 23, 07 5:19pm |
Residents of Kampung Berembang have filed an application to be joined as defendants in the suit taken against them by developer Perspektif Masa Sdn Bhd at the Shah Alam High Court today. Legal standing The remaining residents currently live in the adjacent area around the fence set up by Perspektif Masa cordoning off the development area in Ampang. |
After 30 minutes in chambers, the residents’ counsel Amer Hamzah held an impromptu press conference to explain the current legal situation to over 50 Kampung Berembang residents who turned up in court. 
However, they were forcibly evicted three years later - before the project was completed - after they failed to obtain an injunction against MPAJ. The developer then revoked all the pledges and started the demolitions last November. by Reuters , CNET News.com | 5/6/07
Takeaway: Working poor, others find cybercafes to be cheap alternatives to city hotels. Plus, they get Internet access and Manga comic books.
Takeshi Yamashita doesn't look like a homeless person.
From his carefully distressed jeans to his casual-cool navy striped T-shirt, he is every bit the trendy Tokyoite. Yet the 26-year-old has been sleeping in a reclining seat in an Internet cafe every night for the past month since he lost his steady office job and his apartment.
It's cheaper than a hotel, offers access to the Internet and hundreds of Manga comic books, and even has a microwave and a shower where he can wash in the morning before heading off to one of his temporary jobs ranging from cleaning to basic office work.
Asked how long he plans to go on living like that, Yamashita smiles and shrugs.
"I hope the situation in Japan will improve. The new Japanese generation doesn't have any money, and many young people don't have any motivation. I don't have money, but I have a dream," he says, sitting in a cubicle with a PC and a stack of comic books.
So what is his dream?
"I don't know," he says. "Maybe some ordinary job in an office."
Yamashita is one of Japan's many "freeters"--a compound of "free" and "arbeiter," the German word for "worker." A by-product of the economic crisis that hit Japan and its lifelong employment guarantees in the 1990s, freeters drift between odd jobs.
Earning around 1,000 yen ($8) per hour, they often struggle to pay the rent in Tokyo, one of the most expensive cities in the world. There, a modest 320 square foot flat in a central location can easily cost 150,000 yen ($1,250) a month.
Now the economy is recovering, but many freeters are missing out on the upswing after years of unskilled work. Most expanding companies prefer to recruit fresh university graduates or transfer basic jobs to low-wage countries such as China.
As an Internet cafe owner in Tokyo's Ueno district, Masami Takahashi has had a close-up view of social change in Japan. Around the corner from his cafe, homeless people who cannot even afford a reclining seat sleep in cardboard boxes.
Chinese prostitutes in Japanese kimonos prop up drunken office workers, or "salarymen," who will stumble into Masami's cafe for a nap later in the night.
Finding anonymity as well as shelter
The salarymen were the first to discover net cafes as a cheap alternative to hotels after companies hurt by the economic crisis stopped funding team drinks--an essential part of Japanese corporate culture--followed by a night in a hotel.
And then there are customers for whom Takahashi's Internet point is home. Takahashi, an affable host sporting a mullet and a blue track suit, regularly sees freeters taking refuge at his cafe. He has even lent money to some of them out of pity.
"It shows how the social system is changing. It's a bit sad for us Japanese," he told Reuters, scratching his head.
At about 1,400 to 2,400 yen ($12-$20) for a night in a central Internet cafe--free soft drinks, TV, comics and Internet access included--prices beat those of Japan's famous "capsule hotels," where guests sleep in plastic cells.
This means that on a Friday night in Shibuya, one of Tokyo's main entertainment districts, the dimly lit cafes are packed.
At 3 a.m., there is loud snoring from salarymen in suits, their shoes lined up neatly outside each individual cubicle containing a reclining seat or sofa, a computer and a clothes hanger.
There are fashionable young women wearing high heels and short skirts, who missed the last train after a night out. And there are those who use the discretion of a net cafe to their own advantage.
"I often come here with my boyfriend. Today we escaped from high school and came here," said 16-year-old Naomi, a schoolgirl in a white shirt, tartan miniskirt and knee-high socks.
Shyly sweeping aside her long brown fringe, Naomi said she started going to net cafes with her boyfriend at the age of 15, telling her parents she was sleeping at a friend's place.
"We usually spend all night talking and reading mangas, and in the morning we go to school."
Like Yamashita, the freeter, many of the cyberhomeless fade into this colorful crowd, finding anonymity as well as shelter.
"The younger ones don't look any different from other young people," said Kazumasa Adachi, a manager at one of the more elegant net cafes where staff wear suits and receive customers with the polite efficiency of hotel receptionists.
He recognizes cafe dwellers by the heavy bags they lug around. "They are different from the real homeless because they belong to the working poor, so they do have some money, whereas the ones on the street have no money at all," he added.
There is no official data on the cybercafe homeless. Japan's Welfare Ministry plans a wider study on the phenomenon, according to a newspaper report, but in the meantime, it is hard to gauge the scope of the problem or its social impact.
At the very bottom of cybersociety
Anecdotal evidence suggests that many are freeters in their mid to late 20s, who stay in a net cafe for a couple of months before settling for a more permanent housing solution.
Those who are older and poorer, with fewer chances of escaping their drifting lifestyle, and sometimes too embarrassed to return home, find themselves at the very bottom of cybersociety.
They congregate in run-down Tokyo suburbs such as Kamata, renting poorly ventilated, smoke-filled cubicles with reclining seats for 100 yen an hour.
"It's very uncomfortable. You can't really sleep," said one Kamata cafe guest who preferred not to be named.
Story Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Ganesh died in hospital a day after he was found left in the jungle, the New Straits Times said [Reuters]
An Indian worker in Malaysia has died after being beaten and starved for eight months in one of the worst cases of migrant worker abuse in years, a local newspaper reported.
R Ganesh was so badly treated that his employers eventually left him for dead in a jungle about 400km from the Malaysian capital, the New Straits Times said on Saturday.
Villagers who discovered Ganesh, a worker from India's southern state of Tamil Nadu, the next day were shocked by the sight of his bruised and emaciated frame, and took him to hospital.
Doctors said he was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration as a result of starvation.
Speaking from his hospital bed on Thursday, a day before he died, Ganesh, 28, said his employers had forced him to work from 8am to midnight every day since he began work last August.
'Deprived of food'
"They chained my hands and legs before locking me up in a dark room in their house every night"
R Ganesh, migrant worker, speaking to New Straits Times before his death
He said: "They hit me with sticks, rubber hose and iron rod. I was also deprived of food and water. They chained my hands and legs before locking me up in a dark room in their house every night."
He was also warned not to try to escape or go to the police.
Police have arrested the employers, a middle-aged couple and their son, who run a business making chilli sauce, and are investigating the case as a murder, the paper said.
Human rights groups have urged Malaysia to tighten labour and immigration laws that expose migrant workers to the risk of abuse and exploitation by employers and recruiters.
With Malaysians reluctant to take up menial jobs, the country is one of Asia's largest importers of foreign labour, which makes up a quarter of a workforce of about 10.5 million, particularly on plantations, in construction and in domestic service.
--
KUALA LUMPUR: Workers groups have expressed shock that employees aged above 55 will have their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions slashed by half under the proposed EPF Bill (Amendment) 2007.
The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) described the proposal as unfair and an exploitation of that group of workers. Cuepacs vowed to take up the issue at its Congress meeting today.
"We will not agree to it," said Cuepacs president Omar Osman.
He said the 43,000 civil servants who had opted for the EPF scheme were already at a disadvantage compared to those under the pension scheme as the Government did not provide them with free medical treatment after retirement.
"So if you slash their EPF contributions too, this will cause them even more hardship," he added.
It was reported that under the proposed amendments, once an employee reached 55 years of age, he or she would only have to contribute 6.2% of their salary to the EPF instead of the current 12%.
Employees who contribute 11% of their salary to the fund, would, after the age of 55, only contribute 5.7%.
MTUC deputy president Mohamed Shafie Mammal said the proposal was tantamount to punishing senior citizens.
"They are doing the same work. They should be enjoying the same benefits as the rest of us. There is no reason to slash contributions.
This is blatant discrimination on those aged 55 and above and very unfair," he added.
"We are supposed to be a caring society," he added.
Federation of Consumers Asso-ciation (Fomca) president N. Mari-mutu asked how the contributions could be slashed with the retirement trend moving towards the age of 60.
"Contributions for older and the younger workers should not be different," he said.
By PARVEEN GILL and LOH FOON FONG
Monday April 23, 2007
PETALING JAYA: Muslim women across the country are facing difficulty in collecting child maintenance even after Syariah courts ruled that their former husbands are responsible for the welfare of their children.
Sisters In Islam (SIS) programme manager Norhayati Kaprawi said mothers were frustrated with these deadbeat dads because they had to prove that their ex-husbands had income.
“It is unfair to expect mothers to care for their children and locate their ex-spouses’ whereabouts at the same time.
“Even if they can prove that their ex-husbands have income, fathers still manage to find one way or another to escape paying child maintenance or alimony,” she said.
During the forum organised by SIS last Saturday, several women voiced their difficulty in getting alimony.
Some fathers run to another state, some pay when they like and some keep postponing the maintenance case while the children and wife suffer.
A 37-year-old mother of three said a Syariah court in Selangor had ruled that her husband pay alimony through monthly deduction from his salary.
Aware that a Syariah court ruling is only applicable within the state, she said her ex-husband fled to Terengganu to find a new job there and she did not know where he was now.
A 47-year-old woman said her ex-husband was ordered, among others, to pay RM800 monthly as alimony in 1996.
However, he only paid “as and when he felt like it” while she and her two children survived on sardines and rice on her nasi lemak sales.
A 39-year-old woman said she had been fighting for child maintenance for her daughter for the past 15 months.
“My husband is a well-known chief executive officer of a company but he does not want to pay alimony for our daughter. Until today, he has not paid a single sen for his own child.
“To make life difficult, every time the case comes up for hearing, his lawyers would inform my lawyers to ask for a postponement, saying he is willing to settle the matter out of court,” she said.
However, hardly any non-Muslim women returned to court to enforce the law when their ex-husbands failed to pay maintenance, said Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia law associate professor Noor Aziah Awal.
“It was likely due to the high cost of lawyers needed in High Court, which were not needed for Syariah court,” she told The Star.
This observation was based on her research on Enforcement of Maintenance Order for Wives and Children in Malaysia 2005.
“In 2002, out of 141 cases filed at the Seremban Lower Syariah court, 47 cases returned to court to enforce the law. At the Seremban High Court, 218 cases were filed in 2002 and 229 cases in 2003 and no order for enforcement was made for both years.”
Apr 17, 07 2:37pm
Malaysia has asked civil servants with more than one wife to declare their marriages to prevent disputes over pensions if they die, a report said today.
A spokeswoman for Malaysia's Public Service Department (PSD) said there had been cases of "long-standing conflicts" among widows over the rights to their husbands' pension payments.
"They are encouraged to make the declaration to their respective heads of department," the New Straits Times quoted Hasniah Rashid as saying.
"If anything happens to them, we know who to get in touch with and the right amount of pension to be paid to the wives," she said.
Muslim men in Malaysia are allowed up to four wives. Activists and women's groups say polygamy is cruel and has deviated from its original purpose in Islam, which was to protect widows and orphans.
Hasniah said the department had been forced to revise pension payments to spouses after the sudden appearance of a second or third wife also demanding their husband's pension.
Malaysia's civil service union, Cuepacs, welcomed the call, saying it was a waste of the PSD's time to sort out payment revisions.
"If they want to marry again and again, but they don't pose any problem to the PSD or civil service, then it should be okay," the paper quoted Cuepacs president Omar Osman as saying.
"But the problem is those who take another wife and create a lot of problems for others," he said. - AFP
PUTRAJAYA: Muslim widows have to share equally the bereavement payment
of RM10,000.
The Federal Court yesterday unanimously affirmed the decision of the
Court of Appeal last year which held that two Muslim widows had to
divide equally the payment following the death of their husband in a
road accident.
This means that if a man dies leaving four widows, each should get a
quarter share.
The judicial pronouncement came about when the apex court dismissed the
leave application of Wan Mahmood and Che Gayah Hashim, widows of Abdul
Wahat Saidin, who contended that they were entitled to RM10,000 each.
Counsel Brijnandan Singh Bhar, who represented the widows, submitted
that a "spouse" of a deceased person was entitled to make a claim for
bereavement under the Civil Law Act (CLA) 1956.
He said parliament had used the word "spouse" in the singular because
non-Muslims could not have more than one wife.
Brijnandan said under Islamic law, a Muslim husband could marry four
women at any one time.
He said the CLA and section 4(3) of the Interpretation Act 1967 should
have been read together as the latter stated that words and expressions
in the singular included plural and vice versa.
"It is, therefore, submitted that for Muslims, ‘spouse’ should read
‘spouses’ if there is more than one widow left by the deceased," he said.
Judge Datuk S. Augustine Paul said the CLA only allowed for the
bereavement sum to be equally shared and Brijnandan was wasting his
clients’ money as they had to pay costs.
"Whether it is morally wrong is not our business. You raise it in
parliament," he said.
Datuk Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman was the presiding judge and Datuk
Azmel Maamor was the other judge in the panel.
Counsel Jagjit Singh, who appeared for Pacific and Orient Insurance Sdn
Bhd, said the law on this matter was set as the CLA stated that "a
spouse shall be entitled to RM10,000 as bereavement sum".
Abdul Wahat, who was driving a van, was killed in a road accident at
Km115.4 of the North-South Expressway at 6.45pm on Jan 19, 1994.
Wan Mahmood and Che Gayah had named motorist Ahmad Zamri Abdul Rahman as
the defendant and claimed damages for loss of support and bereavement.
On Nov 28, 2000, the Sessions Court in Penang found that Ahmad Zamri was
totally liable for the accident and ordered that the widows were each
entitled to only RM48,000 for loss of support after deducting RM24,000
from RM72,000 awarded by the court. Dissatisfied with the quantum, the
widows appealed to the High Court which upheld the decision.
On Sept 13 last year, the Court of Appeal held that they were also
entitled to the RM24,000 and ordered interest at eight per cent,
calculated from the date the summons was served.
The widows went to the Federal Court only on the issue of the
bereavement payment and it upheld the Sessions Court ruling that the
widows have to share equally the RM10,000.
Sunday April 22, 2007
By PARVEEN GILL and LOH FOON FONG
PETALING JAYA: Fathers who do not pay child support should be jailed.
This was the consensus at a forum attended by several women's groups and religious scholars. The participants also made several other proposals to compel fathers to pay alimony.
They include:
DISALLOWING men from marrying again as long as they have not settled the alimony;
SETTING UP a child support agency that empowers the authorities to go after fathers who fail to pay up;
GETTING enforcement agencies, like the Road Transport and Immigration departments, to withhold documents like driving licences or passports of errant fathers; and
OBTAINING the current address of the men or their workplace so that they can be easily traced.
The forum, organised by Sisters In Islam, was themed Setiap saat berharga, setiap nafkah tertunda anak merana (Every second is precious, as for every delayed alimony there are children suffering). The forum was held to mark the launch of the SIS helpline TeleNisa yesterday.
Commenting on the issue, Terengganu Mufti Datuk Ismail Yahaya said: "Based on my experience, most fathers who initially claim that they are unable to pay alimony immediately turn up with cash to escape a jail sentence."
He said Section 186 of the Akta Tatacara Mal (a syariah enactment of practices and procedures) provides for fathers to be jailed if they fail to pay alimony.
In a phone interview later, he said: "While I am not sure how serious the problem is for non-Muslims, syariah judges should also be firm in their judgment in sending fathers who fail to pay alimony to prison.
"There are provisions in civil law for this, for non-Muslims."
Perlis Mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said: "Those in authority must consider what is the best way to defend the rights and welfare of the children. The important thing is to see that justice is done."
SIS programme manager Norhayati Kuprawi said the responsibility to ensure that a father pays alimony should be the problem of the Government or the state.
Women's Aid Organisation executive director Ivy Josiah said her organisation had proposed that an institution be set up to deduct alimony from the ex-husband's income.
All Women's Action Society executive director Honey Tan said the most effective method to get ex-husbands to pay up is to put them in jail for a short time.
Sunday April 22, 2007
KUALA LUMPUR: Thirty per cent of 214 cases brought to the Sisters In Islam legal clinic pertained to alimony.
This was among figures presented at a SIS forum here to highlight the issue of husbands failing to make good alimony payments to their ex-wives.
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia law Associate Professor Noor Aziah Awal disclosed that court statistics showed that three men had been sent to jail for failing to pay alimony in 2005.
In a recent High Court case in Seremban, she said, a woman could not get RM500 for the maintenance for her child because her ex-husband said he was jobless.
She said in 2003, six men were sent to jail, adding that in the same year, the courts heard 143 cases. Thirty-three cases were enforced.
Federal Territory Syariah Court subordinate judge Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar said only seven applications for enforcement were filed in the court in 2003. In 2004 there were only three such cases, and two in 2005.
"We would not know if the men provided maintenance unless ex-wives return to us to inform us and get a court order," he said.
Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) executive director Ivy Josiah said almost 80% of women who sought legal assistance from the Legal Aid Bureau on this issue did not pursue enforcement proceedings.
