vox populi small thumbnail 'Why threaten an NGO that helps single mums, HIV patients and needy children regardless of race or religion? This during Ramadan too.'

Harapan Komuniti 'relocates' after death threat

Raymund : These threats would never have been made were it not for the provocative and inciteful reporting and statements from various irresponsible leaders who persecuted Harapan Komuniti through insinuation and innuendo.

During the tsunami of 2004, the church community was the first to step forward to give aid where it was needed.

In Aceh, after giving aid, they asked the people what else they needed. The Muslims asked for their holy book and the church people provided them with the Quran so that they can find emotional relief.

Lynn: This is what happens when idiots and extremists are given free hand to voice their stupidity and therefore think that what they say or do matters or is important.

I cannot imagine anything so blatantly stupid as issuing a death threat to an NGO which is helping people who need help. Whoever these idiots are, well, I think there will be a special place in hell for them.

Dood: This is really stooping really low. Why threaten an NGO that helps single mums, HIV patients and needy children regardless of race or religion? This during Ramadan too. Surely Allah is watching and will punish the wicked.

JusticeKini: If Umno-run zakat organisations do not help the marginalised Muslim poor, why do they complain about non-Muslims helping them?

And where is the loudmouthed Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali? Instead of lobbying for 30 percent of MRT construction contracts for themselves, how about donating all these profits to the Muslim poor?

Yeow: Can't these morons distinguish between the good work of charitable organisations and the stupidity of religious extremism and fanaticism, which is the hallmark of the likes of Umno leaders and their goons?

Gen2: And Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria had said with a straight face that non-Muslims are cruel .

Pakatan alternative budget looking at 'floor wage'

Onyourtoes: There must be an unequivocal time frame to control and phase out unskilled foreign workers. Don't listen to the businessmen when formulating national economic policies.

Productivity and capital intensity cannot happen when foreign workers are allowed to enter unfettered, and when the whole process of entry and exit of foreign workers has become an issue of corruption and a mega money-making machine for those involved.

Many have asked why we are caught in a low-wage, low-productivity conundrum. Well, who really are working in Malaysia? Even our hawkers are leveraging on foreign workers.

The concern should not be on the size of the GDP. It should be on per capita income and quality of life. New Zealand for example grew slowly both in terms of population and GDP, but are they deficient in any way when compared with us?

The irony of using foreign workers is its lopsided distribution of benefits with the burden shared by many who really don't get any benefit in the first place.

Hann Wei Toh: To shift low-wage industries out, the country apparently needs to replace them with high-wage industries, or there will be a drop in industrial output.

There has got to be a reason why the high-wage industries are not having a sufficiently important role to play in the economy of this country.

The impression I get from a very small number of comments that appeared in Malaysiakini and from the Penang chief minister (when he mentioned this to the media) is there is a shortage of staff needed by those industries. So to phase out low-wage industries, we may need to bring in high-wage foreigners.

The side-effect is the wages of those positions may become stagnant, as observed in Singapore. And they will increase the level of competition, causing frustration among the middle-class. Of course, the government will have to find ways to deal with this. This is just something Pakatan Rakyat should take note of.

The acceleration of the process (BN is clearly already doing this, though it seems to hesitate in using the minimum wage as a tool) will make Pakatan face a middle-class backlash pretty soon.

Aries5: Instead of talking about 'floor wage' or minimum wage, as in Western and developed world, Pakatan must also come up with a formula to determine 'how much salary to be paid per hour' for low-paying jobs.

In most developed countries, they officially published the labour cost per hour of work done by low-skilled workers, like pump attendants, cleaners, etc.

In UK, they pay about GBP5.72 (about RM30) per hour as a standard of reference for any company hiring such labourers. It is the responsibility of the British government to review this figure in tandem with the rate of inflation.

As such, the government gives priority to controlling inflation so that the cost of living and labour will not increase suddenly. The same should be applied in Malaysia.

 

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