Panasonic to shut Malacca site and “merge” S’gor plants
More bad news.
This time it’s Panasonic, which is reportedly shutting three plants in Asia. Media reports suggest the company is likely to report an annual net loss of some US$1.1 billion on the back of restructuring charges, a slump in demand for consumer electronics and a stronger yen. That would be its first net loss in six years.
The plants targeted for closure include two of the three Panasonic plants in Malaysia.
The Malacca plant, which produces capacitors for mobile phones, reportedly will be shut in March. Some 500 jobs will be lost.
Kugan’s final journey: An end to custodial deaths?
Riot police take up positions as an officer orders the crowd to disperse
This was the scene outside the University Hospital at about 1.20pm today. Police probably outnumbered the crowd as half a dozen riot police trucks waited along Jalan Universiti outside the hospital.
Kugan is expected to make his final journey to Puchong today.
BBC Scotland occupied!
Photo by Glasgow Palestine Human Rights Campaign
About 50 activists occupied the BBC Scotland headquarters in Glasgow on Sunday, 25 January, to protest at the BBC’s failure to broadcast a Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for Gaza. The DEC is made up of 13 aid agencies, which are leading UK registered humanitarian charities that fulfil certain criteria. The Committee is traditionally supported by “a network of television and radio broadcasters, the banks, the Post Office, BT, regional and national press and a range of organisations in the corporate sector”. The idea is “to rally the nation’s compassion, and ensure that funds raised go to DEC agencies best placed to deliver effective and timely relief to people most in need”. Among the activists who occupied the BBC Scotland headquarters was John Hilley, who has written in the past for Aliran Monthly. Here is his account of the “occupation”:Last night (25 January), saw our inspiring occupation of the BBC in Glasgow in protest at their decision not to air the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal on behalf of Gaza.
Now Chee Seng residents worry about dengue
Indiscriminate disposal of blue plastic sheets around the Bolton site area – Photos by Chee Seng residents
Over 500 attend Abolish ISA vigil & forum on Palestine
More than 500 people packed the PJ Civic Centre auditorium last night for an Abolish ISA/Solidarity with Palestinians vigil followed by a forum.
Police were present but left about an hour later.
German firm with Malacca plant files for bankruptcy
More bad news in the electronics industry in Malaysia.
German firm Qimonda, which has a plant in Malacca, has filed for bankruptcy in Munich – thanks to a global glut in memory chips.
From the Qimonda website:
Region: Malacca / Senai Established: 1973 No. of employees: approx. 1,100 Areas of activity: Research and Development, Design and Testing, Production, Purchasing, Logistics, Planning and Controlling, Information Technology and Service, Support and Staff FunctionsMeanwhile workers at Intel are worried they might end up with no proper compensation following the closure of the firm’s two plants in Penang, as the excerpt from this NST report suggests. No severance package?
While Intel has assured that it intends to offer some 1,000 affected Malaysian employees comparable jobs within its existing facilities in Penang and Kulim, a veil of insecurity and uncertainty is now shrouding those affected.
Hotel set to tower over George Town heritage buildings
The hotel being built behind the GPO in Penang – Image credit: NST
Happy Lunar New Year
Wishing all of you a very happy Lunar Year. May your coming year be filled with love, peace, joy, compassion and everything good.
And here’s a special message from Rakyat@work:
A New Year gift to Paula Khoo Date: 28 Jan (3rd day of Chinese New Year) Venue: Pattani Road Police Station, Time: 8.00am Dear peaceful rakyat of Penang and Malaysia. Please make time to be with Paula Khoo because she have stood for you, possibly for your children too, in calling for the abolition of the ISA. (She has to report at the police station to find out if the police are going to press charges over her participation in an Abolish ISA vigil.)
Govt audit reveals serious AP irregularities
The government is introducing new rules to plug serious abuses in the Approved Permit allocations for car imports.
I guess most of us will not be surprised by the scam that has been going on in the AP system. It’s all very muhibah, don’t you think? But not the best example of Malay-Chinese cooperation, unfortunately.
This excerpt from a Singapore Straits Times report:
The rules came about after a yet-to-be published government audit exposed serious irregularities. The audit looked into the business practices of a small clique of well-connected Malay businessmen who received their AP allocations each year. The audit revealed that a large number of the businessmen were hawking their import permits to mainly ethnic Chinese car dealers who dominate the country’s luxury vehicle dealerships, documents reviewed by The Straits Times show.
Umno not alone in struggle to adapt to new conditions
If there’s any consolation for Umno as it struggles to adapt to a changing political landscape, it is that it is not alone. After having been in power for a long time, political parties tend to think they have the natural right to rule – and then they fail to tackle the rot and adapt to the changing landscape. Like Umno leaders, the Republican leadership too is struggling to come to terms with the new reality and to heed the message of voters.
Check out this Bloomberg report:
Republican Battle for Party Chief Pits Leaders, Base (Update1) By Heidi Przybyla Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) — Republican leaders’ efforts to select a new national party chairman are stirring concerns among a vital constituency: Republican voters. Rank-and-file Republicans are telling their leaders they want more ethnic, gender and age diversity in a party that is dominated by white males. They also want party leaders to cooperate with President Barack Obama, according to surveys.
Heartfelt prayers at interfaith vigil for peace in Gaza
A bashful Sukerit Kaur, 9, sings a message of human solidarity
He is my father
She is also my mother
She is my best friend
He is my brother
An interfaith prayer vigil and reflection for peace in Gaza was held in the hall of the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Penang last night, attended by about a hundred people.
Among those who led the prayers for peace was Fr Francis Anthony, the parish priest of the Cathedral. JIM central committee member Mohd Rashid Hasnon (centre) sang the azan and stressed the importance of peace in Islam.
Kuala Terengganu a “major blow” for Najib
3 exco members lose Penang PKR leadership positions
Three Penang state exco members – Deputy Chief Minister Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, Law Choo Kiang and Abdul Malik Abul Kassim — have been dropped from their Penang PKR positions.
Balik Pulau division chief Dr Mansor Othman, Deputy Speaker Tan Hock Leong and state PKR election director Mustafa Kamal Mohd Yusoff will reportedly replace them in the Penang PKR leadership.
Certain Penang state exco members from PKR have been embroiled in controversy in recent months.
LIVE: ‘ISA Vigil 23’ released on bail
Photos courtesy of beyond51.blogspot.com
They say he died due to ‘liquid in his lungs’
Caution: Video contains graphic scenes that could disturb viewers.
Kugan Ananthan, 22, from Puchong was arrested on 15 Jan in connection with car theft cases. He collapsed and died on 20 January at the Taipan police station in Subang Jaya.
A Serdang Hospital post-mortem revealed he died due to ‘liquid in his lungs’. The family are now seeking an independent post-mortem.
Minister bars fed agencies from Perak govt meetings
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s directive that federal departments and agencies in Perak should not attend meetings organised by the state government clearly runs against the spirit of our Constitution and our system of federalism.
The move reportedly was to prevent the state-elected Village Development and Security Committees (JKKKs) from gaining access to federal agencies. The federal agencies were also barred from considering the recommendations put forward by these JKKKs.
Only the federal JKKKs would be recognised. “Among the issues that required the recommendations of federal committees were scholarship applications and entries into institutes of higher learning.”
Such a directive penalises the rakyat as federal agencies are there to provide service to the people and obtain feedback from the ground. If federal agences are not present at state government meetings to listen to views from the ground, how will the federal and state governments be able to respond to the people’s needs?
The other Oath of Office
As we celebrate the end of the nightmarish George W administration, journalism professor Robert Jensen has come up with his updated Citizens’ Oath of Office to remind us of the core problems of empire and economics — US domination around the world and corporate domination worldwide — which, he says, remain as threatening as ever.
“I do solemnly pledge that I will faithfully execute the office of citizen of the United States, and that I will, to the best of my ability, help create a truly democratic world by (1) going beyond mainstream corporate news media to seek out information about important political, economic, and social issues; (2) engaging fellow citizens, including those who disagree with me, in serious discussion and debate about those issues; (3) committing as much time, energy, and money as possible to help build [authentic] grassroots political organizations that can pressure politicians to put the interests of people over profit and power; and (4) connecting these efforts to global political and social movements fighting the U.S. empire abroad, where it does the most intense damage. I will continue to resist corporate control of the world, resist militarism, resist any roll-back of civil rights, and resist illegitimate authority in all its forms. [And I will commit to collective efforts in my local community to help build joyful alternatives to an unsustainable consumer society.]”
Intel to shut two plants in Penang
The economic tsunami has reached our shores. Regionally, the numbers look dismal: Singapore is experiencing its worst downturn in post-war years, Korea down over 5 per cent of GDP, Japan exports down 35 per cent, China growth down to 6.8 per cent.
And now Intel is shutting “two existing assembly test facilities in Penang”. The two plants in Penang are among four Intel facilities worldwide that have been targeted for closure in 2009. The closures could shed at least 5,000 jobs globally within the firm, which employs 83,000 worldwide.
The Star, however, reports:
Intel Corp’s corporate affairs manager in Penang Loo Cheng Cheng said the two affected facilities, the PG6 and PG7 plants, where manufacturing takes place, were the company’s older and smaller plants. “We have a total of six plants in Malaysia running manufacturing, research and development and other services. “With three plants in Penang and another three in Kulim, Kedah, Intel Corp in Malaysia has about 10,000 employees,” she said. Loo said the closure of the two plants in Penang would affect over 1,000 of employees but the company would be offering the effected workers comparable job positions in its other Malaysian plants. “It is safe to say that the company has no plans to lay off any workers for now,” she said. However, it is still unknown when the two facilities will stop its operations in Penang. Following the move to close the two plants here, the company’s operations in its Kulim Hi-Tech Park site will assume the role as Intel’s global manufacturing hub.But Guan Eng is denying that the two plants are closing down; instead he says the company had sought relocation of the two plants to the Kulim Hi-tech Park.
Court hearing for ISA Vigil 23 postponed to Friday, 23 Jan
23 for 23rd.
The hearing for the 23 Abolish ISA vigil/Bersih anniversary participants who are to be charged at the PJ Magistrates Court has been postponed to 9.00am on Friday, 23 January.
Shoe-throwing protest spreads…
An interfaith prayer and reflection for peace and justice in Gaza will be held at the Holy Spirit Hall in Penang (off Jalan Masjid Negeri/Green Lane at the Caltex station) at 8.00pm on Friday, 23 January.
Kicking off the event will be a speaker from Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM).
Over the last couple of weeks, the Herald, Malaysia’s Catholic weekly, has been highlighting the situation in Gaza on its front page.