India Singapore and Malaysia are all investigating a sex slave trafficking circuit. Slavery is one of the many social ills caused by poverty. Women from North East India are lured to the big cities with the promise of good jobs. Instead the women are forced to be strippers or prostitutes. Here is a story about the same sex slave trade that we posted last week. The Times of India updates the investigation. The probe comes in the wake of an incident in which five tribal girls from Manipur and Assam, who were taken by an agent to Singapore on the pretext of getting them jobs there, were sent to Malaysia and pushed into flesh trade.One of the girls managed to escape and alerted a pastor who got help from an NGO.All the five were housed in the David Pasteur Christian Home for destitutes here,...
from the Malaysian Star By M. SIVANANTHA SHARMABUTTERWORTH: The state government aims to eradicate hardcore poor families in Penang by March next year.Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy has urged state assemblymen to identify such families in their respective areas for the state Welfare Department to compile the exact statistic.He added the state had up to now, registered more than 350 families in the hardcore poor category and efforts were being made to identify more.“If everything goes as planned there will be no more hardcore poor family in the state by March. Once this mission is achieved, Penang will be the first state in the country to absolutely wipe out poverty,” he said Wednesday at the Deepavali Charity Cultural show at Dewan Sree Maha Mariamman Temple at Jalan...
from IPS News By Baradan KuppusamyKUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (IPS) - An emerging trend in the trafficking of tribal people, mostly young girls, is raising concern among government officials, rights organisations, migration experts and human rights lawyers.Increasingly, tribal girls in the region are duped and trafficked from their villages to regional capitals like Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to work in brothels and massage parlours that attract well-heeled locals as well as tourists.‘’The trafficking of tribal people is on the rise across the South-east Asian region,’’said Irene Fernandez, executive director of Tenaganita, a leading Malaysian NGO that tracks trafficking of women to Malaysia from across the Asia Pacific region.‘’It is a most heinous crime because tribal girls are...
The Malaysian government should immediately and unconditionally release two journalists and an opposition politician arrested on September 12, 2008, under Malaysia’s draconian Internal Security Act, Human Rights Watch said today....
from the Malaysian Star A business in Malaysia that tries to eradicate poverty recently won an award in that country. This article profiles Westports, wgho was recognized for their corporate citizenship. - KalePETALING JAYA: Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd’s corporate philosophy of growth with equality has led the company to subscribe strongly to the belief that economic development must involve and benefit everyone.Executive director Ruben Emir Gnanalingam said Westports, which is located in Pulau Indah, Port Klang, had adopted long-term corporate responsibility (CR) policies since its inception in 1994.“The objectives of our CR initiatives are to eradicate poverty by providing financial assistance and job opportunities, elevate the quality of life, upgrade living standards and to...
Police Investigation of Anwar Ibrahim Lacks Credibility
The Malaysian government should immediately withdraw politically motivated charges against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Human Rights Watch said today. Police served Anwar, who is running for office, with an order to appear in Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on August 7, 2008, under a colonial-era law that criminalizes homosexual conduct....
from the New Straits Online A Malaysian bank will help African nations in setting up microcredit schemes. The announcement was made at a conference for Asia and African countries. - KaleBANK Negara Malaysia will assist interested African countries to come up with microcredit schemes under the Financial Inclusion Advisers (FIA) programme.Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said BANK Negara would look for the best possible scheme for each of the nations interested."They will not necessarily follow the same scheme. Each scheme will be planned according to the respective country's needs and will be a long-term programme," he said.Najib was speaking last night after the first day of dialogue proper at the Global Southern Africa International Dialogue (GSAID) at the Mulungushi...
from the Malaysian Star This soup kitchen actively goes out into the streets to bring people in. - KaleBy JAMIE KHOOHave you ever walked past a homeless person and wondered what you could do to help? If so, join the Kechara Soup Kitchen which actively goes out to the streets to find them, feed them and befriend them.IT can’t be easy living on the streets. Homelessness – its filth and its forgotten people – is a subject that most would rather not talk about, attributing this dire state of affairs to a sometimes mistaken belief of drug abuse, a criminal mind or pure laziness.So why then is a group of young Malaysians heading out every Saturday evening to actively look for them?The Kechara Soup Kitchen, an independent initiative run by volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, seeks...
Malaysian government allegations that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim forcibly sodomized a male aide lack credibility, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch is concerned that Anwar’s arrest was a politically motivated attempt to derail the opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat’s (People’s Alliance) much-publicized campaign to form a new government by September 16, 2008....
from the Malaysian Star The government in Malaysia is going some changes to how thetrelease poverty stats. -KaleBy ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMANKUALA LUMPUR: The poverty line index (PLI) will be updated annually instead of every five years in view of the changes in the spending habits of consumers affected by the rise in consumer goods prices and inflation.Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Amirsham Abd Aziz, who said this in Dewan Negara, explained that the PLI was usually tabulated twice every five years along with the results of the household income survey carried out by the Statistics Department.Due to the factors brought about by inflation, he said the PLI would now be tabulated annually, in which the 2008 index would be announced early next year."The Government is aware of...
from The New Straits Times The national poverty line will be adjusted, taking into account current inflation rate.Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz said this was because the national poverty line currently in use had not taken into account the knock-on effect of the recent oil price increase.“The government is aware of the effects of inflation and price hike of goods on household expenditure. The poverty line will be updated from time to time, taking into account the current inflation,” he said in reply to Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (PKR-Bandar Tun Razak) in the Dewan Rakyat here today.Abdul Khalid had asked whether the government was aware that the national poverty line currently in use was too low and illogical to fend for a family,...
from The Star Malaysia By MUGUNTAN VANARKOTA KINABALU: The Government is determined to eradicate hardcore poverty in two years despite the current austerity drive.“We know it will not be easy but we are determined,” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said when closing the Second International CEOs Conference here yesterday.He said the priority now was also to close the gap between the rich and poor, the bumiputras and non-bumiputras as well as the differences in the level of development between Sabah, Sarawak and the peninsula.He later told reporters that development projects for rural areas were not among those being considered for deferment as part of a mid-term review of the 9th Malaysia Plan due next week.Abdullah said the affected projects were those deemed as large...
from Al Jazeera via You Tube...
from the New Straits Times Namibia will continue receiving Malaysia’s technical assistance to build its individual and institutional capacities. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Namibia’s National Planning Commission members had met their Malaysian counterparts concerning mechanisms to monitor the Third National Development Plan for Namibia.“I am confident that Namibia will succeed and achieve its target of uplifting the socio-economic standing of its people, in its quest to achieve a developed-nation status by 2030,” Abdullah said.He called on Namibia to jointly identify ways and means to manage problems and minimise negative impacts on the livelihood of its peoples, in the wake of global oil, commodities and food price increases.“We need to cooperate more...
Stuff I should have blogged at the time:
What if? - New York emergency housing competition results: Last September, New York City launched “What if? “, an open competition to find innovative designs for high-density emergency provisional housing for 38,000 households in the aftermath of a hurricane and flood disaster in afictional, one [...]...
from the Daily Express Kota Kinabalu: A comprehensive Poverty Mapping framework will be established to eradicate poverty in the State, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said Tuesday.He said the National Statistics Department Sabah branch and the State Federal Development Department (JPPS) were currently conducting a census to collect data throughout Sabah for the framework.The Poverty Mapping framework for Sabah was tabled by the Federal Chief Secretary on Monday (April 7) and Musa had requested that everyone co-operates with the efforts.Speaking to reporters after chairing the State Action Council meeting at Wisma Innoprise, here, Musa said the focus group for the State level poverty eradication programme implementation co-ordinator machinery had been set up, chaired by the State...
Internally Displaced Persons in Iraq - Update (IDP Working Group, March 2008) [text via Refworld] [text via ReliefWeb]
The Rise and Fall of Asylum: What Happened and Why?, Centre for Economic Policy Research Discussion Paper, no. 577 (Australian National University, March 2008) [text]
Sharing Responsibility for Refugee Protection in Europe: Dublin Reconsidered (ECRE, March 2008) [access]
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Bias in Electoral Process Favors Ruling Coalition in March 8 Poll
Government restraints on expression, assembly and access to state media will deny Malaysians a fair vote in the March 8 general elections, Human Rights Watch said today....
from the Daily Express Kota Kinabalu: Opposition Keadilan claimed the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) would not be able to resolve poverty issues in Sabah as well as reduce the price of goods.Its Inanam candidate, Daniel John Jambun, said he is willing to debate the issue with the BN at any time and place."The SDC never mentioned about providing opportunities to the people or how it would be able to address poverty and the illegal immigrant issues in Sabah."So, how could the government say that it is good for the people?," he said during a Keadilan gathering at Kampung Bantayan, Inanam, Thursday night.The BN, he claimed, is now going into the villages distributing zinc sheets and plastic water tanks to the people to entice them to vote for BN candidates in the elections on March...
from The Edge Dailyby Yong Yen Nie Although Sabah is rich in natural resources, the people of Sabah, especially those living in rural areas, have not benefited greatly from them.Sabah’s poverty rate of 24.2% is the highest among states in the country. The problem is compounded by the concentration of population in remote places across Sabah.A roundtable dialogue organised by the United Nations Development Programme last month found poverty rates to be particularly high among the Rungus (58%), the Orang Sungai (41%) and Sulu and Murut communities (about 35%). It also found that progress in poverty reduction and equity distribution has been adversely affected by exceptionally high population growth rates, thereby locking themselves into an intergenerational cycle of poverty.When Prime...
from The New Straits TimesBy Hamidah Atan and Deborah LohPUTRAJAYA: The Ninth Malaysia Plan, the mid-term review of which will be conducted in March, has already shown positive results, the prime minister said yesterday. Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the third national mission to eradicate poverty and bridge socio-economic divides had reduced poverty from 5.7 per cent in 2004 to 3.5 per cent last year, according to a study by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU)."I am very happy to state here the positive effects of the development plans and projects we have implemented for the benefit of the people. The EPU's household income survey carried out last year showed the rate of poverty had gone down, with the number of hardcore poor reduced from 1.2 per cent to 0.7 per cent."This means...
from NST OnlineThe Ninth Malaysia Plan, whose mid-term review will be conducted in March, has already shown positive results, the Prime Minister said today.Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the third national mission to eradicate poverty and bridge socio-economic divides had reduced poverty from 5.7 per cent in 2004 to 3.5 per cent last year, according to a study by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU).“I am very happy to state here the positive effects of the development plans and projects we have implemented for the benefit of the people. The EPU’s household income survey carried out last year showed the rate of poverty had gone down, with the number of hardcore poor reduced from 1.2 per cent to 0.7 per cent. This means that our target to eradicate poverty by 2010 is achievable,”...
from The New Straits TimesBy : Roy Goh PITAS: Mokujim Limikai was living in extreme poverty until three years ago when things began to change for the better.The 50-year-old Rungus man was shortlisted for a government scheme to plant rubber, something which he tried, and since then he has been earning money regularly.The Kampung Timboi Dagang resident now owns a motorcycle, television and radio -- items he never dreamt of having.Mokujim is among 1,600 heads of families from 90 villages who own plots of land planted with rubber trees in the Bengkoka peninsula under a RM100 million federal scheme implemented by the Sabah Rubber Industry Board.Launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in June 2006, 10,000ha will be developed in stages over five years under the agropolitan...
from The Malaysian StarBy ROSLINA MOHAMADKUANTAN: The Government has set up a focus group to eradicate poverty and complement the work of agencies and institutions that provide welfare for the poor. The emphasis, however, will be on finding ways to get the poor employed or involved in cottage industries that provide a steady income. Teruntum assemblyman Datuk Ti Lian Ker said the group was established at federal, state and district levels and reflected the Government's commitment to overcome problems associated with the poor. “The group will have a committee that will meet once a fortnight to monitor and streamline efforts towards reducing the poverty rate of 5.7% to 2.8% by 2010. “It will act aggressively and pro-actively in identifying the poor and source for work to ensure they...
Government Again Uses Internal Security Act to Detain Without Trial
The Malaysian government should order the immediate release of five Hindu Rights Action Force leaders detained under the Internal Security Act, Human Rights Watch said today. Malaysia’s Internal Security Act (ISA), which permits indefinite detention without charge or trial, has long been used against peaceful political and rights activists....
from The New Straits TimesThe Hindu Rights Action Force’s (Hindraf) allegation that the Indians have been oppressed and constitute the poorest segment of the Malaysian society is a lie, the Dewan Negara was told today.Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Senator Datuk Abdul Raman Suliman said the poor does not involve only the Indians but other races including the Malays as well.He said the government, through its poverty eradication policy, managed to reduce national poverty from 49 percent in 1970 to 5.7 percent this year.“This shows we have managed to reduce poverty by 43.3 percent targeted for all races including in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said in reply to Senator Datuk Yaakob Mohamad.Yaakob wanted to know whether there is any truth to Hindraf’s claim that...
The Star Malaysia Story and picture by ANNE HASLAMA Unicef-funded NGO’s efforts to help a group of people trapped by the ravages of HIV/AIDS have proved successful. SINASAMY*, 45, is lying weakly on the sofa in his Paya Nahu flat in Sungai Petani, Kedah. He had been having a fever for a while and severe abdominal pain, and his testicles and lymph nodes are swollen – all signs that suggest the onset of full-blown AIDS. Having tested positive for the HIV virus in 1995, he has only now started showing symptoms of the disease. Although an intravenous drug user for most of his life and having been in and out of jail for the last 25 years, his wife and children bear no anger towards him. In fact, when asked about it Nagamah, 41, said she could not be angry when he was already so sick. She...
Prime Minister Should Immediately Request a Royal Commission of Inquiry
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi should immediately advise Malaysia’s king to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the police use of force against a peaceful rally for electoral reforms, Human Rights Watch said today....
Risk of Misuse of Force by Authorities Against Peaceful Protestors
Police in Kuala Lumpur should permit a public rally and march organized by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (known as Bersih) to proceed as planned on Saturday November 10, Human Rights Watch said today. New elections, although not mandated before May 2009, are expected to take place early in 2008....
from Bernama KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Wednesday the successful eradication of poverty will be one of the key performance indicators for elected representatives in their respective constituencies.When delivering his presidential speech at the Umno General Assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) here, the Prime Minister said Barisan Nasional (BN) elected representatives must make the poverty eradication agenda as their priority because it was one of the main objectives of the New Economic Policy (NEP).He said the poverty eradication programme which involved the interests of all ethnic groups would be given intensive attention in the second half of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP)."We hope that in the not too distant future, the term...