Sunday, December 30, 2007

Facing Malaysia's Racial Issues

It may have been one of Malaysia's most surreal demonstrations ever. On Sunday, an estimated 20,000 ethnic Indians brought Kuala Lumpur to a standstill for nearly six hours in the name of Queen Elizabeth II. They gathered in the thousands near the Malaysian capital's iconic Petronas Towers, waving giant posters with enlarged images apparently downloaded from the Internet, depicting the British monarch in full royal regalia, or in her Sunday best inspecting flowers in Kensington. One banner read in English and Tamil: THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND — THE SYMBOL OF JUSTICE, WE STILL HAVE HOPE ON YOU. Alongside the pictures of the queen, many protestors also hung images of Mahatma Gandhi around their necks to symbolize the non-violent nature of their march. The foreign tourists who hadn't already been driven out of the square by the crowds gawked and started taking photographs.

The demonstrators — mostly ethnic Tamils, the descendants of 19th-cetury indentured laborers brought to Malaysia from South India by British colonists — had planned to march on the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur's Ampang diplomatic enclave to submit a two-page memorandum urging the Queen of England to help them in a legal case brought against the British government. The class action suit, filed in London in August by the Malaysia-based Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) demands that the British government pay some $4 trillion in damages to atone for what the group calls the "150 years of exploitation" of ethnic Indians by their former colonial masters. Hindraf had organized Sunday's march to the High Commission in order to urge the Queen to appoint Queen's Counsel to argue their case, as the group cannot afford to pay the legal fees.

Soon, however, the protest took a darker turn. A day earlier the government had detained three protest leaders, obtained a court order banning the rally and repeatedly warned that any participants would be arrested. Using tear gas and water cannons, about 5,000 armed riot police pushed back the protestors; over 190 people were arrested and dozens injured in the melee. "We only want to urge the Queen to help us win a case we have filed against the British government in London. But the police are treating us like animals," said lorry driver Ramakrishan Subramaniam, 41, who like many others had journeyed overnight from the countryside to register his protest. "I have a 10-month-old baby and worry what kind of a future she has in this country."

It's a worry many ethnic Indians share. Making up some 8% of Malaysia's population (Malays make up about 60 percent, ethnic Chinese about 25 percent), Indians are historically underprivileged compared to other ethnic groups and have long felt discriminated against, particularly by a Malays-first affirmative action policy instituted after independence in 1957. "Our community is backward, our schools are dilapidated. We are the last in the line for jobs, scholarships, health benefits," says opposition lawmaker Kulasegaran Murugesan, an ethnic Tamil. Hindraf, modeled after right-wing Hindu nationalist groups in India, is winning support by demanding an increased share of Malaysia's wealth. "For over a decade we have been appealing to the government for help to alleviate our poverty but all our appeals had fell on deaf ears," says Uthayakumar Ponnusamy, Hindraf's legal adviser. "The British brought us here, exploited us for 150 years and left us to the mercy of a Malay Muslim government. They should compensate us now."

The protest comes just weeks after another banned rally turned violent, as an estimated 30,000 demonstrators demanding free and fair elections clashed with riot police. It was the largest display of public anger since 1998, when thousands rallied following the sacking of then-Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim over charges of sodomy and corruption. Malaysia is a normally stable nation that places great stock in its image as an ethnically harmonious society; government officals say they are worried about the racial dimensions of Hindraf's campaign. "It is not easy to satisfy all the races at one time," said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak in a statement to Malaysia's official Bernama news agency. "We are helping the poor among all races but expectations can get high if fanned by irresponsible people."

Opposition politicians also worry that Hindraf's protest threatens to exacerbate religious and ethnic tensions. "They should be more inclusive," said Anwar, now a leading opposition figure, in a statement on Sunday. "We must champion the cause of the poor of all races, not just Indians." Still, with other ethnic minorities and even many Malays now saying the affirmative action program is being used more to benefit the rich and powerful than lift up the lower classes, the opposition stands to gain in general elections widely expected by next March. For people like Ramakrishnan, worried that rising food and fuel prices are eating into his meager income, the choice will be easy. "We will vote opposition this time to send a clear message to the Malay government to treat us with respect, to share with us," he says. "We fight for the future of our children; we don't want them to suffer like us."

BARADAN KUPPUSAMY / KUALA LUMPUR

Gun pointing


This TV grab taken from Pakistani TV broadcast Dawn News, on December 28, shows an unidentified assailant reportedly pointing a gun towards former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto (unseen), during a rally at which she was assassinated in Rawalpindi. Pakistan has indicated it would delay January elections because of turmoil caused by the death of Bhutto, as a bitter dispute erupted over how the opposition leader was killed.
(AFP/Dawn News)

Miley Cyrus


Singer Miley Cyrus performs on stage during ABC's 'Good Morning America' summer concert series in New York on June 22, 2007. A 6-year-old girl, who won four tickets to a Hannah Montana concert with an essay falsely claiming her father died in Iraq had her prize taken away. The contest's sponsor, a store chain named Club Libby Lu, withdrew the prize Saturday, Dec. 29, 2007 and awarded it to another contestant. It didn't identify the new winner..

Grievance

In the world of work a grievance is a formal statement of complaint, generally against an authority figure. Procedures for grievance are common in unionized organizations.

In many countries labor unions typically include a committee known as the Grievance Committee or Griefcom which deals with complaints of members against management.

In an unionized organization, a grievance is a formal complaint against the employer, in written format, usually filed by a union steward on behalf of a member of the local union. It is typically understood as any difference arising out of the interpretation, application, administration or alleged violation of the collective bargaining agreement that is in effect at the place of employment but it can also concern violations of common law, such as workplace safety regulations or a human rights code.

Ordinarily, unionized workers must ask their operations managers for time during work hours to meet with a shop steward in order to discuss the problem, which may or may not result in a grievance. If the grievance cannot be resolved through negotiation between labor and management, mediation, arbitration or legal remedies may be employed. Typically, everyone involved with a grievance has strict time lines which must be met in the processing of this formal complaint, until it is resolved. Employers cannot legally treat an employee any differently whether he or she has filed a grievance or not. The difference between a grievance and a complaint, in the unionized workplace, is whether the subject matter relates to the collective bargaining agreement.

The term is also used outside the work context. A substantial section of the United States Declaration of Independence consists of an enumeration of the colonists' grievances against the "Present King of Great-Britain" (George III). An important part of the American political tradition (guaranteed by the First Amendment) is the right of the people to petition the government for redress of grievances. An example of the federal governments approval of grievance mediation is the fact that the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service makes it's Commissioners available to the Labor/Management community at no charge for grievance mediation.

Friday, December 7, 2007

4th December

Sean Carter was born December 4th
Weighing in at 10 pounds 8 ounces
He was the last of my 4 children
The only one who didn't give me any pain when i gave birth to him
And that's how i knew that he was a special child

They say "they never really miss you til you dead or you gone"
So on that note i'm leaving after the song
So you ain't gotta feel no way about Jay so long
Atleast let me tell you why i'm this way, Hold on
I was conceived by Gloria Carter and Adaness Revees
Who made love under the Siccamore tree
Which makes me
A more sicker M.C. and my momma would claim
At 10 pounds when i was born i didn't give her no pain
Although through the years i gave her her fair share
I gave her her first real scare
I made it from birth and i got here
She knows my purpose wasn't purpose
I ain't perfect i care
But i feel worthless cause my shirts wasn't matchin my gear
Now i'm just scratchin the surface cause what's burried under there
Was a kid torn apart once his pop disappeared
I went to school got good grades could behave when i wanted
But i had demons deep inside that would raise when confronted
Hold on

Shawn was a very shy child growing up
He was into sports
And a funny story is
At 4 he taught hisself how to ride a bike
A two wheeler at that
Isn't that special?
But, i noticed a change in him when me and my husband broke up

Now all the teachers couldn't reach me
And my momma couldn't beat me
Hard enough to match the pain of my pops not seeing me, SO
With that distain in my membrain
Got on my pimp game
Fuck the world my defense came
Then Dahaven introuced me to the game
Spanish Jose introduced me to cane
I'm a hustler now
My gear is in and i'm in the in crowd
And all the wavey light skinned girls is lovin me now
My self esteem went through the roof man i got my swag
Got a volvo from this girl when her man got bagged
Plus i hit my momma with cash from a show that i had
Supposedly knowin nobody paid Jaz wack ass
I'm geting ahead of myself, by the way, i could rap
That came second to me movin this crack
Gimme a second i swear
I will say about my rap career
Til 96 came niggas i'm here
Good-bye

Shawn use to be in the kitchen
Beating on the table and rapping
And um, until the wee hours of the morning
And then i bought him a boom box
And his sisters and brothers said he would drive them nuts
But that was my way to keep him close to me and out of trouble

Good-bye to the game all the spoils, the adreneline rush
Your blood boils you in a spot knowing cops could rush
And you in a drop your so easy to touch
No two days are alike
Except the first and fifteenth pretty much
And "trust" is a word you seldom hear from us
Hustlers we don't sleep we rest one eye up
And the drought to find a man when the well dries up
You learn to work the water without workin thirst til die YUP
And niggas get tied up for product
And little brothers ring fingers get cut up
To show mothers they really got em
And this was the stress i live with til i decided
To try this rap shit for a livin
I Pray i'm forgiven
For every bad decision i made
Every sister i played
Cause i'm still paranoid to this day
And it's nobody fault i made the decisions i made
This is the life i chose or rather the life that chose me

If you can't respect that your whole perspective is wack
Maybe you'll love me when i fade to black

If you can't respect that your whole perspective is wack
Maybe you'll love me when i fade to black