Current Affairs

Malaysiakini political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ul-Haque or Zunar talks about:

- the Home Ministry officials' unexpected visit to the printer of his latest book, "1 Moolaysia"

- why he continues to draw political cartoons, despite the ban on his books and detention in 2010

- how "doing his homework" before each cartoon is drawn allows him to defend his work

- whether being controversial pays more 

- whether it is fair to impose his views on readers and fans of his cartoons

- his political leanings and how it influences his work

- what he hopes to achieve with a civil lawsuit against the government and police 

- why politics should concern everyone, and not just politicians

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In the following interview, Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim talks about:

- why he believes the only water crisis the state is facing, is a management one

- why the state government should be given 

- the reasoning behind implementing Selangor's free water policy in 2008, its impact on water demand consumption rates and whether it was a populist move

- how the state government would handle management of water, if it had its way 

- the middle ground solution to the restructuring talks stalemate

(In Part 1, we spoke to Datuk Seri Peter Chin, Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, on the Selangor water crisis. Check out the interview here)

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There has been much discussion and public concerns of an impending water crisis in Selangor, with the Federal government claiming that the Selangor state government has been delaying the Pahang-Selangor raw water transfer project by refusing to authorise the construction of the Langat 2 water treatment plant.

Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Dato' Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui contends that the state government must be willing to separate the issue of the state water restructuring exercise from the construction of the Langat 2 facility, in order to resolve the water talks, adding that the state government cannot continue to politicise the issue and use Langat 2 as "a bargaining chip". He says that the Langat 2 water treatment facility is necessary, as the current water treatment plants are facing overcapacity, and that prolonged overcapacity will eventually lead to a breakdown in the plants. He reiterates the Federal government's stance that the state will run short of water supply by 2014, and that without sufficient water supply in future, water rationing will be the new reality for Selangor, Putrajaya and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.

In the following interview, Chin also elaborates on the Federal government's plans to manage the projected water shortage in Selangor, why the Ministry has not addressed non-revenue water and why Selangor's free water policy works against implementing water demand management.

(In Part 2, we speak to Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim on the Selangor Water Crisis. Check out the interview here)

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The government has recently introduced optional guidelines under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) to regulate political financing for all parties to avoid politicians from abusing funds. 
Ravindran Devagunam, Pemandu’s director of anti-corruption NKRA on the issue, says that the initiative is to encourage political parties to self-regulate and to ensure donations are properly recorded, to allow for a proper audit trail. "From an internal party standpoint, it's to ensure office bearers refrain from situations or platforms that places them in a position that may influence procurement decisions, so office bearers can't sit on tender committees," he says, adding that the government had been working on the guidelines over the past two years.

Ravindran says that the guidelines were a first step in addressing the area of political financing. PEMANDU also hopes to make the political party internal checklist public in the long run, so that the audit trail is also published for public viewing. 

Asked about the view that current legislation and disclosure requirements of the guidelines are inadequate, he agrees, saying that there needs to be a revision legislation-wise. "But if we had waited for the revision, we would need a few more sittings in Parliament, so we wanted to take the first step, then possibly go back to the ROS [Registrar of Societies/Societies Act 1966] Act and revise it. Clearly we need to sit down with Parliamentarians and party officials to explain how this works,  which we are already doing."

In the following interview, Ravindran also shares his views on political parties being involved in business, as well as whether political parties should be funded by the state.

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In Part 2 of the Current Affairs series on Minimum Wage, Lim Kok Boon, president of the Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association and Michael Kang, vice-president of the SMI Association of Malaysia share the industry player perspective of introducing minimum wage for local and foreign workers in Malaysia.

[In Part 1 of the Current Affairs series on Minimum Wage, we spoke to Datuk Seri S Subramaniam, Human Resource Minister, on why the government pushed for minimum wage. Check out the interview here]

Lim, who is also CEO of public-listed GW Plastics Holdings Bhd, says that the industry players are not opposed to the minimum wage, but that the implementation of the minimum wage be done progressively. He says it is important is define what the government means by "minimum wage", whether it is referring to basic salary or take home pay.  "Currently, the industry practises basic salary and in addition to that, bonus, allowances, incentives. Take the plastics industry for example, RM650 for basic salary and close to RM1,000 in take home pay. The misconception is that RM650 basic salary is below the poverty level, then the poor fellow will not be able to survive. But that is assuming that this is his take home pay. Basic salary is not take home pay, which is usually in the region of RM1,000," he tells BFM in a recent interview.

He feels that if the RM800 minimum wage only constitutes basic salary, with the industry having to top it up with incentives and allowances, "then the take home pay will jump to RM1,300 to RM1,400, which will then result in costs that are too big for the industry to absorb", echoing a point raised by Malaysian Employers Federation, that the viability of companies are at stake, with 200,000 companies likely to shut down and 4 million workers out of jobs.

"Cost is like water, it has to flow and find its own level. When there is an inordinate increase in cost, it will pass down the stream. When it can't flow, it will overflow. The cost will go to consumer and burden by way of inflation -- an employee who gets increment today and is saddled with cost increase tomorrow negates the purpose of the increase in the first place," Lim says. Conversesly, if the cost has to be absorbed by a company and the cost exceeds the revenue, the company has no choice but to close down. 

Labour intensive SMEs will be the most impacted by the minimum wage implementation, says Kang of SMI Association of Malaysia, adding that an increase from RM600 to RM800 in basic salary is too big a jump. Lim explains that the labour constitutes 5% to 15% of the cost structure of most companies, whose profit margins on average is 5% for a listed firm and 2% to 3% for a smaller SME. "SMEs who don't have economies of scale and are labour intensive. With a 2% to 3% profit margin, the basic salary increase from RM650 to RM900 ringgit will result in an estimated cost increase of 4% to 5% of revenue. This will be too high a cost to absorb, if companies are unable to pass costs down to consumers, whatever profit the company has will be either completely or partially wiped out," he quips.

In the following interview, Lim and Kang also talk about whether raising the minimum wage will successfully decrease companies' dependency on foreign workers by drawing local employment, what is the middle ground solution to the minimum wage dilemma and what industry players are doing to prepare themselves for the impending minimum wage implementation. 

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The cabinet has recently approved a national minimum wage between RM800-RM900 per month for local and foreign workers in the country. The move, which has been proposed by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress since 2000, has been hotly contested by employers who claim that a hasty implementation of the policy will erode trade competitiveness and force 80% of SMEs to go out of business. 

Minister of Human Resource Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam says the government decided to revisit the issue of minimum wage in 2009 after seeing that wage increase in Malaysia is not in tandem with the increase in cost of living. "So the real net wage increase for a lot of people, partcularly in the lower (income) group, a wage increase by approximately 2.6% a year for the last 10 years, whereelse inflation was much higher than that, so there was no wage increase, as far as workers are concerned," he tells BFM in a recent interview in Kuala Lumpur.

"The argument by employers has always been, wage should be determined by market factors. So we have allowed that for a long time, but eventually we came to the point that probably market factors were not stabilising or giving wage inceases that were reasonable, for workers to have reasonable remuneration as far as wages go," he says, adding that the World Bank was consulted to do a comprehensive study on the best way forward.

Subramaniam says that minimum wage is not a tool to transform Malaysia into a high income nation, as that is the purpose of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP). "Definitely, minimum wage is not the answer to a high income economy... that's what the ETP and 12 NKEA and areas of growth that are identified, which put impetus on skill, knowledge and as the basis of the transformation of our economy. This will push us to high economy."

"Higher income nation is increasing per capita income from US$7000 to US$14000, and that's not what the minimum wage intends to do. It's actually a social security scheme to the bottom 30% who are receiving exceedingly low wages so that they receive wages that are consistent with the cost of living and the way things have changed over the years, and to compensate them for fact that theyr're working," says Subramaniam.

He says that the minimum wage is the basic cost of labour, and is "unrelated to comparison between good or not so good worker". "Those are things which have to be taken care by the management in a different scheme on and and above this (minimum wage). This is the minimum pay to any worker who comes to work for you for the amount of work he does for you."

Subramaniam says the Prime Minister is set to announce the actual minimum wage figure soon, which will be differentiated across Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak and by sectors. He adds that the minimum wage will be implemented in stages. 

In the following interview, Subramaniam also addresses the criticism levied against minimum wage, concerns that companies will take in illegal workers to cut costs, as well as why companies need to change their mindset that Malaysia can no longer operate as a low-cost labour hub. 

[In Part 2 of Current Affairs' Minimum Wage series, we spoke to Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association president Lim Kok Boon and the SMI Association vice-president Michael Kang. Check out the interview here]

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Israel has not ruled out initiating military attacks against Iran’s nuclear sites to remove the alleged threat of nuclear weapons, a move which analysts believe may drive global oil prices by more than 60 dollars a barrel.

For Current Affairs, Kathleen Tan speaks to Caroline Bain, Senior Commodities Editor and Economist with the The Economist Intelligence Unit, on the impact of the Iran nuclear crisis on oil prices

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March 11th, 2012 marked the 1st year anniversary of the deadly Japan earthquake and tsunami, which left more than 19,000 dead or missing, and led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster, one of the worst nuclear crises in history. Currently, more than 320,000 people continue to live in temporary shelters after being displaced last year. Residents living within the 20 km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi plant owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) were evacuated for fear of nuclear radiation, while many others lost their homes to the tsunami.

Hatsuhisa Takashima, special advisor of Japan International Broadcasting Inc, says Japan's then Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his ministers were not very experienced to handle the disaster when it struck, as the situation became worse than Kan had expected. "However to be fair to him (Kan), he was the one who ordered TEPCO to keep their workers on site as much as possible so that further deterioration of the sitation was prevented. Without having that Prime Minister's strong leadership, the cirsis probably would have gotten worse," says Takashima, who was recently in Kuala Lumpur to meet with the Malaysian press.

Although public confidence in the Japanese government has fallen since the disaster, it has recently seen a slight improvement, due to current Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's determined will to cope with the situation, says Takashima, a former broadcast journalist with NHK. 

He says that reconstruction efforts have been hampered by the sheer amount of debris from the earthquake and tsunami that has to be cleared. "Debris is covering roads, gardens, praying grounds...How to relocate, scrap, bury or burn (them) out... That is the biggest task all municiplatiies have to do and because of the huge amount, it takes time," he says, adding that residents living outside affected areas fear that the nuclear contamination of the debris. "That kind of slowness is why reconstruction work is coming slowly. The final decision by government is done, they have set up a new government agency with very strong mandate given by Parliament  to accelerate the pace of reconstruction, relocation and rehabilation, so we hope things will become better in months to come," he says.

Asked about the high rate of suicides in the prefectures most affected by the tsunami and nuclear disaster, Takashima says the majority of residents who were affected are elderly Japanese in their 60s, 70s and 80s, who do not have the support of relatives to rebuild their lives. "They're forced to live in shelters with no signs of returning to new homes, which they will have to build again but are unsure whether they can do it financially... This causes stress and mental hardship for them," he says. NGOs and the local municipalities have been working on reaching out to the victims, but "it is a matter of the mind of the people".  "The only thing we can do is encourage them, support them , and give them chance to reestablish self-confidence on their future lives. That is a very difficult thing but we have to do it."

While preventive work has been underway -- such as a new structure covering the Daiichi Nuclear Reactor 1 --  the Japanese people have been dissatisfied with the slow rate of reconstruction efforts, he says. "With regard to reconstruction and rehabilitation work in tsunami damaged areas, if you go there right now, you see simply flat land with no signs of life or building construction going on. This is because the master design for a new city, town or village has not been determined yet. But after one year, probably (reconstruction) work will start with the arrival of spring, which will be easier than in wintertime," says Takashima.

How long will it take before people can resume lives as normal? "So far as nearby areas of nuclear plant exploded ones, it will take years or decades or far more than that before people come back and live there again. The government estimated at least 40 years to complete the flattening or taking out of contaminated nuclear fills and structures from the site and put it into the permanent storage areas. But one of biggest questions is -- where is the permanent storage areas? We still don't know where, how or when."

"But surrounding areas, sometime betwen 20,30 or 40 years' time, they can come back. But do they want to come back? That's another question."

In the following interview, Takashima also talks about how the nuclear disaster has changed Japan's approach to nuclear energy, the incident's impact on the economy and why Japan's economy has been able to recover so quickly.

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The Health Ministry has recently announced that the blueprint of the  controversial proposed 1Care healthcare system will only be ready in two years, and that discussions with stakeholders are still ongoing.

In the following interview, the Ministry of Health's Deputy Director General of Health System, Dato’ Dr Maimunah Hamid addresses some of the public's concerns on 1Care:

- The perceived lack of transparency surrounding the healthcare system

- The privatisation of healthcare services and its impact on the poor

- The 9.5% contribution from employee's salary to the insurance scheme

- Why 1Care is mandatory

- Whether it is based on the NHS in the UK

- Why not just address existing problems without revamping entire healthcare system

- Will Malaysians be able to see the doctors of their choice under the zoning system

- Will quality of healthcare be compromised in favour of lower costs - generic medication, for example

(In Part 2 of our series on 1Care, we speak to Dr Steven Chow, president of the Private Medical Practitioners' Association Malaysia on his concerns about 1Care. Check out the interview here)

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Stuart Ramalingam, CEO of Malaysian Super League (MSL) Sdn Bhd, disagrees that Malaysians don't support local football, citing viewership figures by Astro that indicate otherwise. A multi-faced issue, he says the standard of Malaysian football is better than ever, but support for international leagues, which has gained popularity over the years due to increased awareness and attractiveness, has affected how fans perceive local football, which is not as "dressed up".

Asked about the lack of merchandising in local football, he says the state teams and FAM -- who manages national team Harimau Muda -- are looking at merchandising more seriously this year, with hopes of creating a larger pool of revenue for the teams. Counterfeit goods continue to be the biggest challenge when it comes to official merchandising, as pirated goods are sold openly at stadiums and matches at a fraction of the price.

In the following interview, Stuart shares his views on the growth of sponsorship in football over the years, the role of corporate sponsorship in branding local football as well as how former Selangor player and current Pelita Jaya striker Safee Sali is a brand himself. 

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