Some politicians ought to show more love to workers

May 21: Penang Development Corporation’s ability to pay its employees “hefty” bonuses for “record-breaking” profits it made last year is great news for civil servants of this country. It is the ultimate proof that great things can happen not just in the private sector. 

Sadly, Lim Guan Eng, Penang’s former chief minister, does not seem to see it that way. He is questioning the PDC’s decision to pay 396 empoyees between one and six months’ bonuses. The DAP strongman is concerned. 

“The profits need to be allocated for development purposes,” he was quoted in The Scoop’s report here. 

PDC reported RM500 mil profits for 2024, its highest ever. The bonuses for 396 employees cost it only RM6.7 mil. CEO Aziz Bakar said back in February that most of the workers would get one or two months’ bonus; those getting 5 and 6-month bonueses account for only 10 per cent of these workers.

I’m not a former finance minister like LGE (never mind if some said he was the worst Malaysia has ever had) and I may not know better than him what to do with profits, but if PDC’s bosses think the workers deserved the bonuses, shouldn’t we trust them and be happy for the workers? 

It is a sign that things are good, no?

No, according to one Joseph Ng, one of Guan Eng’s underlings in DAP, the party that has governed Penang since 2008, when it was already one of the richest states, it must be said. 

Joseph Ng, the Air Itam assemblymen, felt the decision to pay the bonuses was “ill-timed” given the state’s current financial difficulties, according to the same news report.

Well, if it is true that Penang is financially not doing well, there would be a long list of measures the state government must take before penalising workers. 

If cutting cost is one of them, the leaders including MPs and Assemblymen must lead with example: they must be the first to take salary cuts, downgrade official cars, travel less, slash their massive perks which include petrol, expense account, and even clothing allowance. Do away with luxury items, take away subsidies from the rich, stop mega projects. 

They could also learn from the PDC. How did they manage to make so much profit when the state of Penang itself was doing poorly financially, as Joseph Ng admitted.

Whatever they do, keep the jobs and don’t deprive the ordinary workers, including the employees of the PDC, the fruits of their labour.

Instead of questioning PDC, Guan Eng and Joseph Ng should be asking the other agencies in the state why they were not able to be as generous to their employees. If these agencies are led by non-performers, restructure and move people around. Take away their luxury cars, petrol subsidies, expense accounts, and clothing allowances. 

Who knows, maybe the top executives of some of these agencies have been generous to themselves instead of their workers - paying themselves bonuses and giving themselves promotions.

We have seen that many times before, even at Federal level. Politicians have done that too often, too, but that’s another story for another day.

Guan Eng can show love to workers by pushing for higest wages and better terms for them in the long run. Malaysian workers, not just in Penang, and espeially the civil servants, are still one of the lowest paid anywhere. Again, look at how little those performing PDC workers earn!

Graduates earn the same now compared with their parents who graduated 30 years ago but the cost of living has skyrocketed. 

Yes, Josept Ng, they can afford to buy cars - which is why two Penang bridges are not enough and Guan Eng needed a multi-billion ringgit underground tunnel - but only by tying themselves down to hire purchase loans for 9 or 11 years! 

And, no, Guan Eng, most can’t afford to buy any of the “affordable” homes out there, 

If politicians concern yourselves with these basic problems faced by workers, find ways to improve their lot and try not to deprive them of the little rewards, perhaps they’ll get to stay relevant and even contribute to our progress and prosperity. 

Jepry Jaws

Been a while since I added a new kid to my blogroll.

Say hi to Jepry Jaws. At 28, he has already been a journalist with TV3 and the Vibes (yes, that portal Terence Fernandez and I helped start in 2020 to bring down a government). Even did national service, though briefly, as an elected member of  the National Press Club of Malaysia exco. The young man from Melaka is hoping to come back to journalism, which is tough because most of the media outlets are struggling to survive under Madani. Confident that somethning will come up (and I share his confidence), he’s decided to while away his time by posting regularly on his blog jepryjaws.blogspot.com

His obituary on two members of the NPC I knew well, entitled Ronnie and Steven Lessons: “Observation, not just listening”, was unique in an endearing way. Of his preoccuption with Trump, I don’t quite understand, but his other pieces related to the media expose raw edges that make refreshing read, especially given the state of journalism these days.

My advise to Jepry Jaws: Keep writing, without malice, and try not to get sued … :)

How many more journalists must die, RSF?

Despite the unprecented culling of reporters in occupied Palestine, Israel has lost only 11 spots on RSF’s World Press Free Index; China is still considered dangerous; Malaysia is up by only 19 places

Kuala Lumpur, 5 May: Over 200 journalists - men and women - had been killed in Gaza since Israel's atrocities in Oct 2023. Dozens more havd been detained by Tel Aviv while their workplaces and homes were attacked daily. In Israel itself, the media had been viciously suppressed. 

Yet, the Reporters Sans Frontiers saw it fit to take away 11 rungs from Israel's ranking on its World Press Freedom Index. Hardly a rap on their blood-stained knuckles. 

So out of 180 countries the RSF ranked, Israel is now in 112th place. Sure, it is Israel’s lowest ever (in 2022, before the current regime came to power, Israel was 86th in the world) but it didn’t fall all the way down to the bottom. Despite all its atrocities. it has dropped only into the second-lowest rating out of five to describe the state of press freedom, from “good, satisfactory, problematic, difficult and very serious”.

In short, Israel is rated “difficult” and not “very serious”.

Countries that are deemed lowest in press freedom, ie the “very serious” category, are the likes of Eritrea (180), North Korea (179), China (178), Syria (177), Iran (176) and Afghanistan (175). 

In total, RSF deems 62 countries as worse than Israel. But all these countries, combined, did not murder half as many journalists Israel did with impunity.

For context, the RSF rated Malaysia in 2024 as “difficult” (just as Israel is in 2025). Also in 2024, if you remember, the Madani government led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrabim, one of the most critical voices in the world against Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, was punished more severely by the RSF: we plunged 34 rungs in that single year! Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil was flabbergasted: not one journalist was imprisoned in Malaysia in 2023, let alone attacked or bombed to smithereens.

This year Malaysia has improved from “difficult” to “problematic”. We are now in 88th position, up 19 rungs from the previous year. 

But, hang on, how is it that more than half of our neighbours in Asean are ranked as worse than the murderous regime of Israel - the Philippines (116), Singapore (123), Indonesia (127), Laos (150), Myanmar (169) and Vietnam (173)?

The RSF’s arguments?

“In the Asia-Pacific region, press freedom and access to reliable news sources are severely compromised by the predominance of regimes — often authoritarian — that strictly control information, often through economic means.

“In many countries, the government has a tight grip on media ownership, allowing them to interfere in outlets’ editorial choices.

“In several countries, the concentration of media ownership in the hands of political magnates threatens media plurality. In India (1151th), Indonesia (127th) and Malaysia (88th), a handful of politically connected conglomerates control most media groups.’

Ah, but how many journalists did Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Prabowo Subianto or Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim ordered killed or detained last year, RSF?

You see the mockery?

It is clear that the 2025 World Press Index by the RSF is seriously, if not dangerously, flawed. It is not just the lack of gumption on the part of the Paris-based organsation to call Israel out and place it right at the bottom, where it belonged, for the worst crimes ever committed by a state against journalism, it is also the audacity to continue judging other countries that they know next to nothing about.

Countries that are nothing like France, where the RSF is based, or the neighbouring Scandinavian countries, which have been hogging the top spots in its annual ranking that started in 2002. In fact, except for Trinidad and Tobago (in 19th place) all the countries in the Top 20 of the 2025 index are in Europe.

I have long lost my faith in the RSF’s press freedon index. Since 2013, to be exact, when it reported in its Freedom index that Brunei was the Southeast Asian country with the most free media. Even my fellow journalists from Brunei were floored by the RSF’s findings that year. Read my posting Brunei has freest Press in ASEAN? and you'll understand why I called them Reporters Without Bothers instead of Borders. (For the record, the RSF has never placed Brunei as No 1 in Asean ever again).

This year, the RSF went out of its way to say that “economic fravgility” has become the primary threat to press freedom worldwide. Its editorial director Anne Bocande said guaranteering media freedom, independence, and pluarality today hinges on establishing stable and transparent financial foundations.

“When news meda are financially strained, they are drawn into a race to attract audience at the expense of quality reporting, and can fall pray to the oligarchs and public authorities who seek to exploit them.

“When journalists are impoverished, they no longer have the means to resist the enemies of the press - those who champion disinformation and propaganda,” she said.

Distraction, I’ve learned, is also a weapon against good journalism, Ms Bocande of RSF. As the UN Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory said in marking the World Press Freedom Day, there can be no talk of a free press if journalists are being killed and threatended for their work.

And if the RSF can’t or won’t even call a spade a spade where Israel is concerned, then it is the one championing disinformation and propaganda.

Ends