The RAG Newsletter, Issue No.3 (September 1998)

The Contents

Malaysia boleh! After 17 years, an historic call for reform
Revolution threat
Senator Club Chairman Datuk Rahim Baba
Gang Rape is a violence of State Terrorism!
PM MAHATHIR: “All the forces of the rich and powerful are aligned against us
But, in other news . . .
Corporate Rule: The case of MMT in Canada
USCC predicts downfall for industry due to enviro extremists
APEC Leaders’ Meetings mean violence against the people
What about Kuala Lumpur in November 1998?
APPA Children's Forum on Globalisation
Forests and Trade on the Pacific Rim: How to protect our Communities---- An issue forum of APPA (November 11-12)
Plantation Workers' Wage Campaign postponed PM Mahathir not in sound position to receive them
National Forum

1. Workshop for Urban Poor Communities in Johor Baru
   
2. Challenging the Global Economy A Forum on Malaysia, the Asian Crisis, and Globalisation
   

The RAG Issue No.1 (July 1998) The RAG Issue No.2 (August 1998)

HONG KONG CONFERENCE RESPONDS TO FINANCIAL CRISIS
NGOs from the Hong Kong region organized a conference from 15-18 June entitled "Financial Crisis: Our responses". Participants stated that the crisis is "a threat to the basic right to life of Asian peoples". They denounced the response of Asian governments and multilateral institutions, posing as "saviors", that "have resorted to the very same economic policies that have created the conditions leading to Asia's economic collapse." For participants, the solution to the crisis lies not in the hands of these saviors but in the Asian victims of development-the primary producers and forgers of the future.

Participants defined globalisation as an "indiscriminate, unregulated, neo-liberal development model . . . that prioritizes the profits of the few while ignoring the livelihood of the many. This profit oriented, structurally inequitable system has been aggressively imposed upon the peoples in Asia. It is re-colonization par excellence. We reject this model."

The conference singled-out the role that poor governance and the absence of substantive democracy played in bringing about the crisis. "The culture of authoritarianism, militarisation, violence, corruption and immorality has prevailed all over the region for decades . . . The crisis today exposed the reality that those outdated dictatorial regimes are no longer able to handle the situation. The "Asian Miracle" under undemocratic governments no longer exists."

For participants, the policies that produced this crisis have brought adverse consequences to everyone: workers are subject to gross exploitation in wages and conditions and more than 21 million from Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Hong Kong and Indonesia alone, will go unemployed in 1998; migrant workers have moved to Asian countries en-mass and at least one million will be deported; people in urban areas who lose their jobs also lose "a citizen to his society" and many return to the rural areas that were unable to support them in housing, health facilities, educational facilities for children and the civil amenities that connect better times; and women, who occupy most of the low-paid, unskilled jobs, are the first to be retrenched and the privatization of public and social services has increased their domestic burden.

The participant was referring to the "New Concept" and "Land Bank's Concept", currently promoted by the Sarawak government to persuade indigenous peoples to sign away their lands for large scale palm oil plantation schemes. Palm oil is the main export commodity of Malaysia and has been very profitable in the world market.

Under the "New Concept" policy, indigenous peoples are encouraged to lease their Native Customary Land, their source of livelihood for generations, to palm oil scheme developers for 60 years. Although the indigenous peoples reserve the right to join the scheme or not, in reality many are "forced" to sign contracts through fear of discrimination or the lure of sweet promises made by politicians. In Kanowit, a company entered and bulldozed the land first and then threatened the indigenous people by saying that if they did not sign a contract they would lose everything without any compensation or benefit.

Under the land bank concept, landowners are collectively given a 30% share in the company for the land they "contributed". But the shares are entrusted to government assigned statutory bodies, like the Land Consolidation and Development Agency and the Sarawak Land Development Board, with a power of attorney.

Participants maintained that with this heavily promoted palm oil scheme, the livelihood and cultures of Sarawak indigenous peoples are at stake. The opening up of their land by bulldozers has polluted their drinking water sources with yellow mud. With no more forest to source wild vegetables, fruits and animals for food and no more land for agriculture, the indigenous peoples are left with no choice but to work on the oil palm plantations for approximately RM12 a day!

Even if the indigenous peoples get back their land after 60 years, it will no longer be suitable for agriculture, having been destroyed by the extensive use of pesticides on the oil palm plantations.

Participants also discussed the threats of the aggressive encroachment of logging activities and dam building projects such as the infamous Bakun Dam and Batang Ai Dam. Participants agreed to support the hosting of APPA in Kuala Lumpur and endorsed POASM (The Association of Indigenous Peoples of Peninsular Malaysia) to host an indigenous forum at the Assembly.

The conference was organised by Ideal Time and attended by various indigenous longhouse communities and indigenous groups from Sarawak, including Borneo Research Institute, Indigenous Peoples Centre of Development, Baram Self Development Association and Sarawak Access. For more information about the APPA Indigenous Forum contact: Borneo Research Institute-tel: (608)5-438580, fax: (608)5-438580

Over 80 percent of Malaysia's agricultural land is used for plantation crops for export. For workers on these plantations, little has changed since the oppressive years of colonialism. The only change that independence brought to the plantations was new owners. As one worker representative put it, "the managers still wear the short-pants of the old imperialists."

Since independence, the revenues of Malaysian plantation companies have soared. Last year alone, earnings from the major plantation crops, palm oil and rubber, rose by 67 % and 35% respectively. For the year ending June 30, Golden Hope Plantations made a profit of RM 541 million, up 32% from the previous year. These profits have not been shared with the workers. From 1981 to 1990, while real wages for workers in the manufacturing and construction sectors rose by 27%, wages for rubber estate workers rose by only 2%. And when the government recommended a small retrenchment fund to protect workers during the present crisis, the Malayan Agricultural Producers Association (MAPA) was quick to reject it, saying that it would "further increase the cost of production, making us even less competitive."

INDONESIAN KFC WORKERS ON STRIKE
Following recent demonstrations from Indonesian MacDonald's workers, at least 325 workers of Kentucky Fried Chicken from 8 outlets in Surabaya held a peaceful strike on August 1-2 demanding:

-that, because of the soaring price of food, the food allowance should be separated from the basic wage. Their basic wage is Rp 4,400 per-day (around US$0.30);
-that transport allowance be increased from Rp1,500 (US$0.10) to Rp3,000 (US$0.20);
-that the annual wage increment increase from Rp2,500 (around US$0.15) to Rp10,000 (around US$0.60);
-and, that the health care allowance be separated from wages. As it is now, workers contribute 20% of their wages to a health plan.

KFC rejected the demands and threatened to dismiss those who joined the strike without compensation.

Plantation workers refuse to remain silent about these conditions. On May 1, 1996, 1000 estate workers throughout the country came together to launch a wage campaign. They demand a monthly minimum wage of RM 750, a minimum yearly wage increment of RM 50, an annual minimum bonus of one month's wages, and retirement benefits of RM 1000 per year of service.

On September 5, plantation workers will converge in Kuala Lumpur to press for these demands and to meet with Prime Minister Mahathir. People are urged to show their support for the workers by joining in the rally. For more information, contact the Plantation Workers Support Committee d/a ALAIGAL, 26 A Tingkat Jaya 1, Taman Tasek Jaya, 31400 Ipoh, Malaysia.

The next day on a bus to Kuala Lumpur, I met a gentleman from the Universiti Sains Malaysia. He told me about how the university faced increased enrolement and large budget cuts. I asked him if the private sector was offering any financial help. He said that national companies give scholarships and grants to students to study overseas but foreign MNCs do not. "What has Coke ever given Malaysian students," he said. Then he said a friend of his was just hired as a manager by a foreign multinational in Kuala Lumpur. He said she was studying business in Ohio, where a number of Malaysians study on scholarship, when she saw the ad for the position. The company was eager to cash in on Malaysia's education programmes but unwilling to invest in them. Foreign MNCs are benefiting from globalisation: is Malaysia? -ed

Free trade in e-commerce only benefits the North. While both the South and the North give-up revenues from custom fees, only the North exports through e-commerce only the North gets something in return. E-commerce is only for the rich; the poor, without access to the Internet, are left out of this telecommunications revolution and tax-break scheme. So why would any Southern countries want to endorse a trade agreement that so little of their populations can ever hope to benefit from? Big business wants e-commerce in a big way. The potential for industry, primarily in the North, where most financial services, telecommunications, and software companies are located, is massive. This month, some of the Asia-Pacific's biggest banks met in Singapore to form an alliance to set standards for more secure financial services and e- commerce over the Internet. The banks are eager to profit on bill payments, on-line sales and electronic invoicing, and a host of other financial and business services that can all be done over the Internet. Not surprisingly, electronic commerce was one of the APEC Business Advisory Council's key areas for recommendation to APEC Leaders and APEC will be leading the drive in the WTO for acceptance of the US proposal.

Distance education quickly captured the attention of multinational industries, and the major industrial lobby groups of the North are busy promoting it. It's easy to see why. First, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members spend US$1000 billion annually on education. Distance education would dramatically alter how this money is distributed. Less would be spent on teachers, classrooms, and the development of public education programs catered to local contexts; more would be spent on telecommunication services and infrastructure and computer software that private corporations provide. Students would also pay for a greater share of their education, as the system would operate on a fee-for-service basis. Second, corporations spend massive amounts on training their employees; distance learning would shift the burden to employees, who could do the training on their own time from home or computer sites. The training would be especially relevant to the growing telemarketing industry. Developments in distance education to date suggest that the programs offered will only cater to the education and training demands of industry, making education more of a business than a learning process. The EU is even attempting to revoke the exclusive right of nations to grant diplomas; distance education institutions will be able to grant "competency accreditation cards" that will read like CVs, describing the number of training programs that the individual has completed.