Skip to content

Malaysia

Workers Around The World Stand With Striking US Autoworkers

As the first-ever simultaneous strike at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis continues, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union is being cheered on not only by a majority of Americans, but also by much of the international labor movement. Over the past two weeks, the UAW has received messages of solidarity from worker organizations in multiple countries, including a letter from the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and an email from Malaysia’s National Union of Transport Equipment & Allied Industries Workers — both of which represent autoworkers in their respective countries. “The world is watching, and the people are on our side,” UAW President Shawn Fain said last Friday.

By Recognizing Israel, Muslim Countries Betray Palestinians’ Cause

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - The Arab, Muslim and many of the “Non-Aligned” member countries were once staunch supporters of the Palestinian cause. However, in the world that exists today, this is no longer the case. One after the other, the Arab states are falling into the trap of normalizing relations with Israel. Many African nations are doing the same, as are the central Asian and former Soviet states. As the list of countries refusing to normalize relations with Israel shrinks, the pressures to join the normalizing states grows. Sadly, it is the existence of the Palestinian Authority and the illusion of the Two-State Solution that is eroding the support for the Palestinian struggle and the rejection of Zionism.

Malaysia’s Ex PM Explains Imperialism’s Roots In Capitalism

Malaysia’s longest-serving Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad warned that the US is trying to start a war with China over Taiwan. He also explained how imperialism is rooted in capitalism and detailed its economic exploitation of the Global South. It’s quite obvious that when the Eastern bloc was still there, it was a bustle between capitalism and communism. Once communism was defeated, then capitalism could expand and show its true self. It’s no longer constrained by the need to be nice, so that people will choose their so-called free-market system as opposed to the centrally planned system. So because of that, nowadays there is nothing to restrain capital, and capital is demanding that it should be able to go anywhere and do whatever it likes.

Malaysia Bans Yellow To Prevent Protests Against Corruption

By Daily Kos - Xanthophobia: fear of the colour yellow. On Thursday, the Home Ministry of Malaysia decided to ban a primary color. Why? Because the people of Malaysia have gotten sick of the political corruption. Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Malaysia defied police orders on Saturday, massing in the capital in a display of anger at the government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, who has been accused of corruption involving hundreds of millions of dollars. The demonstration in central Kuala Lumpur, which had been planned for weeks, was declared illegal by the Malaysian police, and on Friday the government went as far as to pass a decree banning the yellow clothing worn by the protesters.

No Human Trafficking Cover-Up For TPP, Press Conf. & Rally NYC 8/4/15

By Cat April Watters in Hot Indie News - A crowd gathered at 313 E 43rd St. yesterday in NYC in front of the Malaysian Consulate to express outrage to the fact that despite the fact that Malaysian police discovered 28 suspected human trafficking camps located about 500 meters from the countries northern border AND 139 graves of trafficked persons, within weeks, Monday, July 27th, the State Department upgraded Malaysia from Tier 3 to Tier 2 on the Trafficking in Persons list in a cynical ploy to circumvent legislation prohibiting Fast Tracking of trade deals with Tier 3 nations. Malaysia is one of the 12 nations negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, so Malaysia’s Tier 3 status would have prevented TPP from being Fast Tracked. Human rights group are outraged by the upgrade, which comes just two months after the discovery of human trafficking camps and mass graves of trafficked person in Malaysia.

Did US Change Human Trafficking Ranking For The TPP?

By Communications Workers of America - Advocates for human rights and anti-trafficking efforts have been expressing outrage about the news that Malaysia is poised to receive an improved ranking on the U.S. State Department’s annual assessment of human trafficking across the globe. The assessed improvement is at odds with the recent and troubling facts on the ground, many experts are pointing out. Perhaps most troubling is the notion that the upgraded Malaysia ranking is driven by the Obama Administration’s desire to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact. AsReuters reported last week: “The upgrade to so-called ‘Tier 2 Watch List’ status removes a potential barrier to President Barack Obama's signature global trade deal.

Obama Won’t Let Some Mass Graves Stop The TPP

By George Zornick in The Nation - When Congress finally passed fast-track trade authority last month, there was a major problem for President Obama and his trade negotiators: a provision of the bill forbid any fast-tracked trade deal from including countries on Tier 3 of the State Department’s human trafficking list. That’s the worst classification the United States gives to countries in its Trafficking In Persons annual report, a status earned by countries like Zimbabwe, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and North Korea. Also on the list: Malaysia, one of the 12 potential signatories to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal that is in the final round of negotiations this month.

ObamaTrade Rewards US Corporations That Profit From Slavery

By Zach Carter in Huffington Post - President Barack Obama's effort to include Malaysia in a major pending trade pact has baffled human rights advocates, who see it as a reward for a regime with one of the world's worst human trafficking records. But the myriad interests involved in the trade fight include some very large American corporations, which are currently padding their profits with labor costs kept low by modern-day slavery in Malaysia. Major U.S. electronics brands, including Intel, AMD, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments and Dell, have relied on Malaysian manufacturing for years -- either in their own factories, or through facilities operated by their suppliers. Computer processors, hard drives, smartphone parts and other consumer electronic devices are all part of the slavery system -- more than one-fourth of all workers in the Malaysian electronics industry are victims of forced labor, according to a damning 2014 report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Australia, Indonesia Attack WikiLeaks For Publishing Censorship Order

After WikiLeaks released a secret gag order in Australia blocking the country's media from reporting on a massive political corruption scandal, international leaders are evading culpability and scrambling to control the narrative. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose name was included in the gag order, denied involvement in the case and asked Australia to be transparent in its investigation, which implicates several Australian bank executives and international heads of state in a multi-million dollar bribery scheme. “We are shocked by the report by WikiLeaks," Yudhoyono said in a press conference. "Given the facts I have obtained, the report is hurtful." The court order, issued by the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, blocked news agencies from reporting on the investigation looking into subsidiaries of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and government officials in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. RBA subsidiaries Securency and Note Printing Australia are accused of paying off high-ranking officials from 1999 to 2004 to secure the supply of Australian-style polymer bank notes to the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and other countries.
Sign Up To Our Daily Digest

Independent media outlets are being suppressed and dropped by corporations like Google, Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our daily email digest before it’s too late so you don’t miss the latest movement news.