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Return the denarii to Caesar

Anil Netto
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Christianity should not merely be seen as a spiritual process. There are also the social, cultural and economic dimensions involving the whole human person and his/her relationship with the community.

In the Old Testament, God dramatically intervened in human history to rescue His people from slavery and oppression.

Jesus heralded the reign of God in a more direct fashion. Inevitably, when we choose the side of the poor and criticise injustices, we run into conflict with the interests of the rich and powerful.

This is an excerpt from a piece I wrote for the Herald.

Jesus himself did not set about to upset the powers-that-be during his time. But his message that the Kingdom of God, God’s reign, was at hand was a slap against the sovereignty of Caesar, the Roman Occupiers and Israel’s own worldly rulers. The values that he proclaimed – love, compassion, justice – were diametrically at odds with the values of the Roman Empire (oppression, tyranny and greed).

Seen in that light, Jesus’ message to render to God what was God’s and to render to Caesar what was Caesar’s meant that we should give back to worldly rulers the ultimately worthless and futile pursuits (wealth, greed, ambition) symbolised by the denarii (money and the oppressive economic system). The denarii was to be given back to Caesar, while the people were to go back to their rightful “owner”, God. Through this separation of the tainted denarii from the people of God, it could be said that Jesus was bestowing economic independence on the people – an independence from the oppressive structures of the time.

And that independence was seen in basic communities from the time of the Gospel to the conversion of Constantine. They saw themselves as under God’s direct reign – a reign that, even though dimmed by the later worldly ambitions and oppression of political and church leaders, continues to this day.

In that sense, we are called once again to return to the Gospel in basic communities, to take stock of global challenges and begin the transformation at the local level. This time, the challenges – economic, political, social and cultural – and the oppressive economic system are a thousand times more formidable. Whereas the empire of the Roman world in the Gospels was confined to the known world, today the tentacles of Empire stretch across the globe in the form of neo-liberalism (and other policies which favour the rich over the poor, the capitalist class over the workers), militarism and the arms race, global trade injustice…

Old tram railtrack unearthed along Penang Road

Anil Netto
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The other day I was passing by Penang Road and I noticed some major road excavation work in progress. I looked more closely – and there it was: preserved like an elongated time capsule under the surface of the road were two parallel metal strips right smack in the middle of the road. The old tram track!

This section is probably a continuation of the 50 metres of tram track that was unearthed – and now kept visible – following road and pavement upgrading works in 2004 at the Chulia Street/Penang Road junction.

Let’s hope these discoveries will inspire our urban transport planners to look more closely at the system of trams, which first began running in Penang in the 1880s. These trams later became part of an integrated people-friendly public transport system in the decades that followed.

Reviving the trams will be timely – and it won’t cost much. In fact, Australian tram engineer Ric Francis, author of Penang Trams, Trolleybuses and Railways, estimates that half of the old tram track could be dug out and re-used. One tram could keep 55 cars off the road, he says. Plus it will conserve our fuel, reduce pollution and complement the new public bus service, RapidPenang.

Moreover, trams that blend with the old-world architecture of George Town will surely enhance the heritage value of the inner city, which has the largest collection of pre-war shophouses in South-East Asia.

This is definitely the way to go!

Listen to Francis speaking about Re-introducing the Tramways in Penang – A Proposal for Action on Saturday at 10 am at the Penang Heritage Trust (26, Church Street). For details, phone 04-2642631.

Be there for a fascinating glimpse of what could be possible.

1,800 turn up for MTUC picket in Prai

Anil Netto
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Just heard from Abdul Razak Abdul Hamid, the chairman of MTUC Penang, that some 1,800 workers turned up for the MTUC picket near the Prai Industrial Estate, adding their voices to the call for a RM900 minimum wage and a RM300 cost of living allowance.

This exceeds the turnout for the earlier 25 June picket, in which some 1,000 workers took part.

Razak said that a few more new groups joined in today’s picket. He added that similar pickets were also held in about half a dozen locations across the country – Ipoh, KL (in three locations), Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.

So the issue is not dying out – there is still disquiet among the low-income working class. And a general election is looming.

The ball is now in PM Abdullah Badawi’s court.

Will a minimum wage drive away investors?

Anil Netto
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The MTUC resumes its nation-wide picketing calling for a minimum wage at 5 pm today.

I dropped by to check out the demo in Prai during the last picket on 25 June 2007. The turnout – a vocal crowd of close to 1,000 – exceeded the organisers’ most optimistic expectations. A large majority of the demonstrators were Malays with a smattering of Indians and Chinese – working class people. I found out from them that some factories in the area are still paying their workers a basic wage of less than RM400.

The government has said that investors will skip Malaysia if we were to introduce a minimum wage.

But check out this report from the OECD Observer website:

Minimum wages are a long-standing tradition in many other OECD countries. A minimum wage was first introduced in New Zealand in 1894, and followed a few years later by Australia. The US federal minimum wage was passed into law in 1938. Japan and Korea now have minimum wages, while in Europe, so do France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, the Benelux countries and many countries in central and eastern Europe. Ireland and the UK (not for the first time) introduced national minimum wage systems in the 1990s.

Today 21 of the OECD’s 30 member countries have statutory minimum wages, and in just over half of these countries minimum wages have risen slightly faster than average wage levels in recent years. Only in the US have the real earnings of workers on the minimum wage dropped sharply in recent years, and there is strong pressure to raise them again.

In fact, the hourly minimum wage in Ireland is 60 per cent of the net average wage in that country! That hasn’t stopped the Irish economy from booming nor has it driven away investors from Ireland.

If higher wages drive away investors, explain Singapore.

The Bank Negara governor has said that the one of the main priorities now is to boost domestic demand. Well, to me, the best way to boost domestic demand – and to ensure equitable economic growth for all – is to introduce a minimum wage so that workers can live in dignity.

The lower income group tends to save less and spend proportionately more of their incomes on essentials than wealthier Malaysians. Putting more money into the hands of the lower income group will surely boost domestic demand across the country – and spur economic activity in the most meaningful way.

It is time to introduce a minimum wage.

What does Najib mean by “Islamic state”?

Anil Netto
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When Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak declared that Malaysia is an “Islamic state”, he created quite a stir and quickly polarised public opinion between advocates of an Islamic state and those who believe Malaysia is a secular nation.

Much of the debate now is constrained by knee-jerk reactions to the labels. So let’s go behind the labels and look at the substance: what exactly does Najib mean by “Islamic state”?

An academic friend of mine shared these thoughts with me:

“Does he (Najib) mean a state which:

  • has a constitutional monarchy,
  • espouses parliamentary democracy with an equal franchise for all regardless of religion,
  • has a plural system of laws (although non-bumiputera customary law has been eliminated), with the civil law based upon the Constitution as supreme and the final arbiter of our worldly affairs,
  • has no restrictions on who, in principle, can be the prime minister of the federation or the chief minister of any state in the federation, not unlike, say, (Shmu’el) HaNagid (993-1056), the leader of Andalusia’s Jews, who became, in 1037, vizier of the Muslim kingdom of Granada and commander in chief of its Islamic armed forces, second only to the king of Granada,
  • provides for equal rights for all citizens,
  • upholds equality before the law,
  • practises a single system of taxation for all,
  • provides for the free practice of all religions without discrimination?

“OR, instead, does he mean a state in which:

  • non-Muslims must cede all secular power to Muslims,
  • non-Muslims are subject to discriminatory taxation,
  • non-Muslims live and worship only by the secular grace of Muslims,
  • non-Muslims cannot, in principle, hold any positions above a certain technical level,
  • a non-plural system of laws, defined by someone’s interpretation of sharia (see, Abdullah an-Na’im), is imposed upon all,
  • the Constitution does not represent the supreme law of the land,
  • non-Muslims are not free to live where they choose,
  • there is no concept of citizenship regardless of religion?

“It seems to me that if we can get a declaration of assent to the first set – that that is indeed what is meant by an Islamic state – then it would not quite matter what adjective is prefixed to our state. And if such a notion of an Islamic state gains wider assent, that would be a major positive contribution to the global battle.”

Six reasons why you should avoid bottled water

Anil Netto
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Often, many of us think nothing about drinking bottled water.

But here’s why you should avoid it, whenever you can:

  1. Expensive: Litre for litre, it is thousands of times more expensive than tap water.
  2. Hardly hi-tech: Processes such as reverse osmosis aren’t exactly state of the art. Bottled water isn’t much safer than what you could obtain by running tap water through a simple water filter.
  3. Processed tap water: In fact, in many cases, bottled water is actually obtained from public water sources a.k.a. tap water (See report below).
  4. Diverted from communities: In some cases, water is diverted from local communities and sent for bottling. This reduces the level of groundwater in those areas and it becomes critical especially in places where water is scarce.
  5. Environmental headache: The disposal of water bottles, which are not meant for long-term use, is a major environmental headache.
  6. Same taste: In the United States, taste tests have revealed that people are unable to distinguish between the taste of bottled water and that of tap water. Getting people to drink pricey bottled water instead of tap water is in fact one of the major triumphs of marketing.

Okay, so our tap water may sometimes look a tad murky, but that isn’t any reason to cop out and resort to bottled water. We should be pushing our water authorities, which are currently in various stages of “corporatisation”, to do a better job.

And maybe we should even be willing to pay higher tariffs for consumption in excess of a cheap minimum quota for each person – provided the public authorities re-invests profits in reducing leakages and in providing clean and clear water. A sliding scale of tariffs would also discourage excessive use and promote conservation. If the public authorities do their bit, then we can save on expensive home filter systems and bottled water.

Now read this report by Amy Goodman, and I bet you will never want to drink bottled water again. It is from the excellent Democracy Now! website:

The soft drink giant Pepsi has been forced to make an embarrassing admission – its best-selling Aquafina bottled water is nothing more than tap water. Last week Pepsi agreed to change the labels of Aquafina to indicate that the water comes from a public water source. Pepsi agreed to change its label under pressure from the advocacy group Corporate Accountability International which has been leading an increasingly successful campaign against bottled water. Full article: The bottled water lie

Malaysia Today closes in on The Star online

Anil Netto
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I did a check on Alexa to find out the estimated global reach of the main English media in Malaysia.

Here are the rankings at 5.30 pm on 4 August 2007:

1. Star (0.052% of daily Internet surfers worldwide)
2. Malaysia Today (0.020%)
3. NST (0.014%)
4. Malaysiakini (0.009%)
5. Harakahdaily (0.0075%)

Alexa graph

Colour code:

Beige – The Star; Blue – Malaysia Today; Black – NST; Red – Malaysiakini; Green – Harakah

Interesting to see that Malaysia Today has overtaken NST, Malaysiakini and Harakahdaily and is now closing in on The Star online!

Of course, this is just a very rough estimate – with all kinds of other variables that could present a different picture – but it is a revealing snapshot nonetheless.

There is a monster in the swamp

Anil Netto
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It was not so long ago when voters, hoping for reforms and change, gave Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi an unprecedented mandate. Among other things, Abdullah had vowed to tackle corruption.

Since then, the reality has not quite matched the rhetoric. The hopes of many have been dashed.

We seem to be stuck in a swamp of corruption and we just cannot haul ourselves out of it. The more we try and cling to an overhanging branch, the more we seem to be sinking deeper and deeper in the muck, right up to our neck in the bog.

We know the problem – endemic corruption – and yet we seem to be powerless to eradicate it. Worse, we do not seem to care much about it.

My friend Rustam Sani, one of Malaysia’s leading public intellectuals, has asked a pertinent question: “Having realised it in our guts that corruption is rampant in our society – and according to our luminaries in parliament and corporations it is causing harm to our social fabric – how is it that we still do not have a sense of indignation or outrage against it?

“The existence of a widespread public indignation or outrage, I have always thought, would have been the first step towards the eradication of corruption in our society.”

Rustam also observed that some local and state authorities seem more concerned about “moral policing” and snoop squads; on the other hand, they appear tolerant and lax when it comes to corruption. Perhaps the problem is that many people in our society are actually prospering in a system that is sustained by corruption so much so it doesn’t really bother them.

This can only mean one thing, concludes Rustam: “What we have in Malaysia is institutionalised corruption. And that is truly a chilling thought.”

This is an excerpt from a piece I wrote for The Herald.

Yes, there is a monster in the swamp of corruption: institutionalised corruption.

How is it institutionalised? For one thing, there is a close nexus between business and politics in Malaysia that has severely compromised the system. Too many vested interests are benefiting from corruption. No wonder the authorities are unable to drain this swamp and, moreover, they lack the political will to do so.

Everyone knows that the Anti-Corruption Agency is not really independent in the first place – for, after all, it reports to the Prime Minister and not to Parliament. Meanwhile, the media are fettered and controlled. Oppressive laws such as the Official Secrets Act and the fear of repercussions, which could put careers into cold storage, also serve to deter potential whistle blowers.

But then again, even if the ACA was independent, it would still be severely ill-equipped to deal with the issue of rampant and systemic corruption in Malaysia. For one thing, the ACA has traditionally focused on straightforward bribery cases, which is only part of the problem or even just a symptom of the larger disease. The ACA is not really up to the task of disentangling the tentacles of business and political interests. For beneath the surface lurk cronyism and greed, which has fed the monster over the years.

This monster first sprung to life during the tenure of former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who presented us with Malaysia Inc. From then on, there was a blurring in the demarcating line between political and business concerns giving rise to situations of conflict of interests. One such example was the case of the then economic adviser to the government Tun Daim Zainuddin, who had his own vast business interests, including in the banking sector.

Seen in a broader context, the free rein given to corporate-led globalisation has also contributed towards a society that is engrossed in seeking material gain, not always legitimately. Corporate media propaganda bombards us with the image of the “good (materialistic) life”.

The result: there is a stampede in the pursuit of wealth. Many are tempted to take shortcuts to acquire such wealth whether it is through wheeling and dealing on the stock exchange, cronyism or schemes to get-rich-quick without hard, honest work.

Listen to the words of St Paul in his First Letter to Timothy:

“We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it; but as long as we have food and clothing, let us be content with that.

“People who long to be rich are a prey to temptation; they get trapped into all sorts of foolish and dangerous ambitions which eventually plunge them into ruin and destruction.

“‘The love of money is the root of all evils’ and there are some who, pursuing it, have wandered away from the faith, and so given their souls any number of fatal wounds.” (1 Timothy 6:7-10)

As we survey our national landscape, those fatal, gaping wounds of corruption and greed are there for everyone to see.

 

 

Merdeka! Abolish colonial legacy of judicial whipping

Anil Netto
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It is time to abolish judicial corporal punishment (JCP) in Malaysia i.e. the barbaric whipping of prisoners with a thick rattan cane, which draws welts and blood and leaves permanent scars. As we celebrate 50 years of Independence, it is timely to remind ourselves that this form of corporal punishment is a legacy of British colonial rule.

According to the World Corporal Punishment research website:

The penal legislation in what used to be “British Malaya” — the peninsular part of present-day Malaysia, plus Singapore — has its historical roots in the criminal laws of England and India.

When the Straits Settlements, comprising the three predominantly Chinese-populated port cities of Singapore, Melaka (Malacca) and Penang (George Town), was formed as a British colony in 1826, the criminal law of England applied. Corporal punishment was imposed for such offences as begging, pornography, treason, garrotting, and robbery with violence.

Straits Settlements Penal Code Ordinance IV replaced the common law in 1871. It was based on the Indian Penal Code, which had been enacted in 1860 to unify the criminal laws of the various provinces in India.

Offences punishable by whipping in the Penal Code were robbery, aggravated forms of theft, house trespass or house breaking, assault with intent to outrage modesty…

This list of “whipping offences” is broadly similar to that of England and Wales at the time…

…at least from the First World War onwards, the whole peninsula was in political terms regarded as “British Malaya” and for many practical purposes was run as an entity, overseen by a Governor based in Singapore who reported to the Colonial Office in London.

What is clear, anyway, is that the JCP regime as it developed was entirely an outgrowth of British legal and judicial custom and practice. It did not have anything to do with “Islamic justice”. The fact that much of the territory (except for the Straits Settlements) had a majority Moslem population was coincidental.

So if this is a British colonial legacy – and a barbaric one at that – aimed at keeping the “natives” in check and ensuring civil order under the colonial administration, why are we still persisting with it? It is interesting that the “natives” were being brutally whipped for theft and robbery at a time when colonial administrators (and their corporations) were occupying our land and plundering the country’s resources.

Has anything changed?

As we look ahead to the 50th anniversary of Independence from colonial rule, we must abolish this most cruel, inhuman and degrading form of punishment. In recent times, defenceless migrant workers have increasingly been given whipping sentences but I don’t see many of the human traffickers being similarly punished. Neither have I come across many tycoons and politicians involved in corruption and criminal breach of trust being whipped (not that I am advocating they should be).

Even the Malaysian Bar has unanimously called for the abolition of whipping in Malaysia, as I reported in this article for IPS:

Of those brought to court, those with valid documents but who have overstayed face prison terms and deportation. A caning sentence, usually two to three strokes, in addition to a stint in prison, is meted out to those without any documents, according to Latheefa, who works in Legal Aid. Women are not whipped.

Upon being brought to court, migrants often do not know what charges are brought against them, the two lawyers claim. ‘‘They are not informed of their right to legal representation, and in any event, are not provided with a reasonable opportunity to seek help. The lack of interpretation in appropriate languages renders the whole legal process a complete travesty of justice and human rights.

Faced with indefinite detention, many of them turn in guilty pleas without realising the full implications. Full article: Illegal migrant workers may escape the cane

NCER: Who benefits more – Sime Darby or farmers?

Anil Netto
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Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has launched the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) masterplan. The masterplan was designed by Sime Darby although the project will be implemented by a regional coordinating authority.

But Sime Darby is not a disinterested party. It is eyeing the seed market and planning to produce patented “mother seed” for 10 popular crops, which it wants to sell, along with fertilisers, to the farmers. Not only that, it will buy the farmers’ produce, process it and market it via Tesco (in which Sime Darby has a 30 per cent stake).

When I contacted Jeyakumar Devaraj for comment, he told me, “It boggles the imagination that the government has come to the stage of contracting out the planning for poverty alleviation to a corporation whose primary aim is to maximise profits for shareholders.”

He said that smaller farmers could end up being pushed out or turned into agricultural labourers. Those who cannot afford to buy the expensive feed/fertilisers and don’t have economies of scale will end up losing their land. They might end up as casual labourers or be forced to move to urban areas.

“It is the invasion of corporate capital into the agriculture sector. We can see what they have done to the plantations sector: they have brought in cheap foreign labour to suppress wages below the poverty line. The same companies are moving into the traditional peasant sector.”

He pointed to how the Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli had developed plantations on Orang Asli land in the Sungai Siput area, but these are being run by private contractors who prefer to employ Indians and Bangladeshi labourers for agricultural work, leaving the Orang Asli without their land and their work.

Sarojeni Rengam of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) was also concerned. PAN’s experience of contract farming in other Asian countries suggests that the quality of the crops in the first two years would probably be acceptable. “But after that, the produce is often rejected or bought over at reduced prices” – the excuse being failure to comply with quality control standards. QC would also be used to justify “calendar spraying” according to the time of year rather than based on the actual pest problem.

Farmers may be given credit to buy proprietary seeds, pesticides and fertilisers, but this would be deducted from harvest revenue. ‘’If the produce is rejected, the farmers would be caught in a debt trap and find it impossible to survive.’’

Charles Santiago, for his part, said Sime Darby has identified the problems but the solutions have not been well thought out. “Controlling the seeds and and reorganising rice production based on agrobusiness models will not solve the systemic problems.”

“What is clear is that Sime Darby, a government-linked company, has been given the opportunity to further its investments in the country. …(and) the parties who control the seed will also control the livelihoods of the farmers.”

This is the article I wrote for IPS:

PENANG, Jul 30 (IPS) – The Malaysian government is unveiling an economic master-plan that it hopes will “revolutionise” farming and transform the economies of four northern states.

Planners say the blueprint will raise farmers’ incomes but activists are concerned that it will instead make them more dependent on a small group of large corporations, which could take control of the entire food production chain from seed to retailing. Full article: Big top-down farm revival powered by business

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