8hb Feb 2022

Murali Vengu seorang pekerja keselamatan yang telah bekerja dengan sebuah bengkel kereta kemalangan dan pusat tuntutan insurans, telah menfailkan tuntutan gaji kerja lebih masa (OT), gaji cuti rehat dan juga gaji cuti hari kelepasan am terhadap majikannya pada bulan Oktober, 2021 yang lalu.

Murali seorang sahajalah yang menjaga keseluruhan stor bengkel yang menempatkan kereta-kereta kemalangan yang sedang melalui proses bayaran insurans. Majikan bengkel tidak mengambil pekerja keselamatan tambahan. Maka beliau diminta bekerja dari 7 malam sehinggalah pejabat bengkel tersebut buka pada jam 9 pagi pada hari keesokannya. Walaupun beliau sepatutnya hanya bertugas selama 12 jam, iaitu dari 7 malam sehingga 7 pagi, tetapi biasanya beliau diminta tunggu sehingga pekerja ofis masuk kerja pada jam 9 pagi. Maka beliau bekerja sehingga 14 jam setiap hari.

Murali juga tidak diperuntukkan apajua cuti rehat setiap minggu, cuti tahunan dan diminta juga kerja pada hari kelepasan am. Pada hari dimana Murali terpaksa keluar untuk urusan penting, beliau terpaksa menempatkan isterinya di pondok pengawal untuk sementara waktu sehingga beliau pulang.

Walaupun bekerja 12 jam hingga 14 jam setiap hari, tetapi beliau hanya menerima gaji asas sebanyak RM 1,300 dan elaun petrol sebanyak RM250 setiap bulan. Sehingga beliau berhenti kerja pada tahun 2018, beliau langsung tidak dibayar gaji kerja lebih masa OT.

Semasa rundingan di Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Subang Jaya pada hari ini, majikan cuba mengelirukan pegawai dengan mengatakan bahawa pelbagai bayaran telah dibuat kepada Murali. Tetapi pemeriksaan lanjut menunjukkan bahawa majikan mengabungkan bayaran elaun petrol dan caruman KWSP untuk memberikan gambaran bahawa suatu jumlah besar telah dibayar kepada Murali dan tuntutannya tidak betul.

Saya telah menerangkan bahawa, tuntutan Murali sebenarnya melibatkan pelbagai komponen seperti tuntutan gaji lebih masa (OT) hari kerja biasa, hari rehat, hari kelepasan am, gaji kerja hari rehat dan gaji kerja hari kelepasan am. Majikan pun mengaku bahawa bayaran gaji kerja lebih masa sememangnya tidak dibayar kepada Murali, maka mereka mencadangkan suatu penyelesaian dibincangkan tanpa melalui perbicaraan penuh.

Selepas rundingan beberapa kali diantara majikan dan pegawai, akhirnya majikan bersetuju membayar sebanyak RM 58,000 kepada Murali sebagai amaun penyelesaian. Jumlah tersebut adalah lebih kurang bersamaan dengan RM 1,600/sebulan gaji lebih masa untuk 3 tahun.

Seperti Murali, ada ramai lagi pekerja keselamatan yang ditipu tanpa dibayar gaji lebih masa, walaupun ianya jelas dinyatakan sebagai amaun yang perlu dibayar oleh majikan dalam Akta Kerja. Maka, lebih ramai lagi pekerja keselamatan harus memastikan bahawa hak mereka terbela dan kiraan gaji merangkumi bayaran gaji kerja lebih masa.

Rakyat pekerja hanya dapat mengajar majikan-majikan seperti ini, jika lebih ramai lagi yang menfailkan kes dan mengheret mereka ke Mahkamah Buruh. Tindakan ini amat penting, demi memastikan industry pengawal keselamatan ini menghentikan penindasan dan perampasan hasil titik peluh pekerja tanpa membayar gaji OT.

Sivarajan Arumugam
Setiausaha Agung
Parti Sosialis Malaysia

(originally published on ThinkLeft)

The major floods that happened are a call for greater class consciousness and better national policies to mitigate the devastating effects of extreme weather due to climate change. Apart from having the government meet the demands that we, the rakyat have set through Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia (GDIMY), we propose a more proactive approach towards this cause. As capitalism continues to leave a trail of destruction, we need to switch on emergency mode through advocating for a change in our economy by bringing in an unconventional ideology: eco-socialism. 

On the 16th of December 2021, a tropical depression that made landfall on the eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia brought heavy rains throughout the peninsula for several days. As a result of this, Malaysia experienced one of the worst floods in history, leaving an estimated 70,000 displaced and 50 dead.

The government was slow to deliver flood response, and a lack of clear central communication made things worse. Flood victims and volunteers take to social media to call for aid and coordination of flood relief efforts, showing solidarity among the people in the face of disasters.

According to the Climate Emergency Coalition of Malaysia (Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia), lacklustre flood mitigation policies, loss of biodiversity and rainfall catchment areas, poor urban planning and unchecked development are all factors that culminated in this disaster.

The low-lying Taman Sri Muda township in Shah Alam is one of the worst flooded areas, with flood water reaching up to 4 metres. For 20 years, flood mitigation measures were sufficient to avoid major flooding — until the development of new projects in the surrounding areas compounded on the existing drainage system. 

Taman Sri Muda’s system is now burdened with water from surrounding areas that triples its original water retention capacity, and tidal gates have broken pumps that are not fixed, despite having a RM 10 million allocation for upgrading works.

Why are new development projects being approved without proper urban and flood mitigation planning? And why are state governments and relevant authorities not doing enough to fix urban infrastructure?

Malaysia’s urban landscape must not be dictated by a handful of developers that prioritise short-term profit over residents’ safety and wellbeing, as overdevelopment comes at a heavy price paid by ordinary citizens in the long run.

The flood not only laid bare the devastating effects of capitalism that thrives on the relentless pursuit of profits over sustainable development, it also managed to flush out the dirty laundry of our ruling elites. 

After the flood, our people were shocked at the horrific images on social media of mass timber debris floating on the rivers of Jalan Bentong-Karak and the Sri Telemong bridge. Civil society organisations and opposition parties often raised concerns over uncontrolled logging activities to the state government, yet it seems that this issue is not taken seriously.

State governments who have sole authority over forests are often embroiled in a situation where they will award forest logging licences or convert forest lands into crop plantations to generate state revenue or use it to gain political leverage — often with the involvement of Malaysia’s royal families.

In early June 2021, the Pahang state government approved an iron ore excavation project by a royalty-linked mining company near Tasik Chini, a UNESCO biosphere reserve. 

The forest reserve has a history of pollution due to mining and logging activities since 2005. Orang Asli communities in the area have been concerned about their wells being contaminated due to their reliance on rain and swamp water for consumption and daily activities. 

Fortunately, the project had been cancelled later in the month due to public outrage. Yet, later in the same month, there were still iron ore mining proposals at a degazetted forest reserve in Kuala Mukim Tembeling, Pahang which is listed as an Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA).

Under capitalism, corporates and ruling elites share the same class interest of capital accumulation, even if it means risking severe loss of biodiversity and destroying the livelihoods of indigenous communities for the sake of profit.

The climate crisis is no longer a looming threat, it is happening in Malaysia as observed through extreme weather patterns and hotter temperatures. It is time we ask the people, do the state governments have it in their interests to protect the environment that secures the well-being of the people? Are the royal families who are being hailed as ‘protectors of the people’ walking their talk?

Echoing the solidarity spirit of #KitaJagaKita, we the people only have ourselves to rely on to mobilise for concrete changes in the country’s political landscape. Just like how the people mobilised and helped each other during the floods, we must continue showing solidarity across different races, religions and nationalities for a better world.

For the wealthy ruling elites, heavy rain meant lazy weathers and lie-ins; but for the everyday citizens, environmental destruction brought along devastating floods and a hazy future as they lost everything. 

The rift between the elites and the people is a class struggle on display, reflecting the central tenet of Marxism: “the history of all hitherto existing human society is the history of class struggles.”

Capitalism is a system that pursues infinite economic growth and profit in a world with finite resources. The system has been efficient in production, but it has exacerbated global wealth inequality. Land, natural resources and wealth concentrated in the hands of the ruling class at the expense of the people.

Instead of focusing on economic growth through resource extraction and mega-development projects, we should overcome the crisis of capitalism and fight for social ownership of the means of production among the people. 

Our political system must also incorporate the ideology of eco-socialism — that life can only be preserved with the preservation of nature. The world needs to move towards an egalitarian post-capitalist economic, political and social structure which can fulfill human needs through harmony of human and non-human ecology. 

Huei Ting and Audrey Chan
Bureau of Environment and Climate Crisis
Parti Sosialis Malaysia

10 December 2021

The principles of equality and non-discrimination are the heart of human rights

Today, on 10 December 2021, the world commemorates International Human Rights Day. International Human Rights Day marks the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

This year’s Human Rights Day theme relates to “Equality” and article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) joins the world in commemorating this day. We are incredibly concerned that we are celebrating International Human Rights Day in a period where socio-economic and political rights continue to deteriorate. People remain excluded from nation-building and socio-economic matters. Fundamental economic and social rights like social protection, water, health, education, food, shelter are still far from reality for the most marginalised communities.

If there is one crucial thing that the COVID 19 pandemic has taught us, it is that discrimination in policies and governance has caused the marginalised to suffer, due to rooted injustice and inequalities. The principles of equality and non-discrimination are the heart of human rights, and it must be the purpose of any government to make sure that every human is protected. We still witness how LGBT communities are constantly being excluded and discriminated against because of their gender, identity or sexuality. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how minorities, migrants, and refugees bear the brunt of exhausted healthcare systems, face increased stigma, and become hate speech and discrimination targets.

PSM remains concerned that in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens have continued to suffer marginalisation and various forms of repression and aggression in the country. Human rights violations such as deaths in custody, torture, assault, unlawful arrests and harassment against media, human rights defenders and opposition party activists have increased throughout the year. The government and its affiliated law enforcement institutions have been identified as the foremost perpetrators of these violations.

PSM also regrets that the restrictions of fundamental freedoms, which were implemented supposedly to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, have further exacerbated violations and related impunity by the government. According to SUARAM, the suppression of the right to freedom of expression, assembly, and association has increased in 2021. In 2021, the government aggressively applied the Sedition Act and Communication and the Multimedia Act (CMA) against government critics, ordinary citizens and human rights defenders.

On 14 October 2021, the UN General Assembly elected Malaysia to join the Human Rights Council for 2022 to 2024. The government made many promises in its pledge to win the seat. The Malaysian government must demonstrate its commitment to human rights as a prospective member of the UN Human Rights Council and strengthen human rights protections in Malaysia.

In light of this sad state of affairs, we also take this opportunity to call for tolerance and acceptance, a culture of respect for one another and appreciation of diversity and inclusion. We believe a tolerant society is a foundational basis for the full enjoyment of the rights established by the Declaration and guaranteed by the Constitution of Malaysia. The government should embrace the principles and spirit of the Declaration and fully respect, protect, and fulfill all its citizens’ human rights and end any form of discrimination and inequality.

Nalini E
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)

(asalnya diterbitkan di Sosialis.Net)

5 Disember 2021

Krisis kapitalisme semakin hari semakin menjadi lebih teruk dan melampau.

Persidangan Kemuncak Iklim Glasgow (COP26) baru-baru ini mengesahkan (sekali lagi) bahawa sebuah iklim yang sesuai untuk hidup – dan oleh itu memastikan kemandirian spesies kita – itu sedang terancam, pemerintah kapitalis tidak mempunyai jawapan yang bermakna untuk keperluan rakyat.

Golongan elit kapitalis lebih mengutamakan keuntungan korporat berbanding sebuah iklim yang sesuai untuk hidup, berbanding kesihatan dalam pandemik sedunia, dan berbanding mata pencarian asas rakyat di tengah-tengah krisis ketidaksamarataan global.

Penganjur persidangan Sosialisme 2021 percaya bahawa adalah mustahak bagi rakyat biasa menolak agenda kelas pemerintah dan membentuk sebuah gerakan yang menentang elit kapitalis, secara ideologikal dan praktikal.

Pada dasarnya kita perlu menggantikan sistem mereka yang menindas dan berpandukan keuntungan dengan sebuah alternatif yang berasaskan kuasa rakyat dan memenuhi keperluan manusia.

Kami terangsang dengan solidariti dalam kalangan kuasa berhaluan kiri di rantau ini. Solidariti ini ditunjukkan melalui penganjuran persidangan ini dan juga projek-projek yang lain.

Kami berharap untuk membina kerjasama kiri yang lebih kuat dengan berasaskan:

Sosialisme

Sosialisme ialah alternatif yang praktikal kepada kapitalisme.

Pengagihan semula kekayaan

Golongan bilionair telah menjadi lebih kaya semasa pandemik. Kekayaan ini harus diambil semula dan digunakan untuk kepentingan rakyat.

Kesihatan untuk semua

Apartheid vaksin global ialah contoh yang jelas untuk ketidakadilan di bawah kapitalisme yang mengutamakan keuntungan. Setiap orang di dalam setiap negara berhak untuk menikmati perkhidmatan kesihatan yang percuma dan berkualiti baik.

Demokrasi rakyat yang sebenar, melawan penindasan negara

Kami menyatakan solidariti kami bersama dengan perjuangan demokrasi rakyat dari bawah di Thailand, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Sudan dan seluruh dunia.

Kesamarataan gender

Penindasan terhadap Wanita ialah salah satu tonggak utama masyarakat kapitalis. Kami menyokong bukan sahaja kesamarataan undang-undang yang sepenuhnya malah juga pembebasan wanita yang sebenar. Kami juga menyokong hak rakyat untuk menentukan identiti dan ekspresi gender mereka.  

Pertahankan hak pekerja

Setiap orang berhak untuk mendapatkan kerja yang terjamin, gaji yang mencukupi dan persekitaran kerja yang selamat. Kerajaan harus menjamin pekerjaan penuh dan pekerja harus menikmati sepenuhnya hak untuk berorganisasi dalam kesatuan sekerja serta mempertahankan hak kita di tempat kerja.  

Keadilan iklim global

Pemanasan global ialah cabaran terbesar yang sedang dihadapi umat manusia, dan pemerintah kapitalis telah terbukti tidak mampu untuk menghadapi cabaran ini. Kerajaan-kerajaan negara harus mengambil tindakan unilateral untuk memastikan tiada lagi projek bahan api fosil dibangunkan dan projek-projek yang sedia ada akan diberhentikan secara berperingkat. Negara-negara kaya harus membayar hutang iklim mereka kepada negara-negara Selatan Global, termasuk teknologi dan pembiayaan karbon sifar.  

Bantah “Perang Dingin” baharu

Kami membantah ancaman serangan kuasa imperialis pimpinan Amerika Syarikat yang mensasarkan China, dan kami menyeru untuk penyahtenteraan di perairan Asia Tenggara (Laut China Selatan).

Hentikan sekatan bersifat jenayah ke atas Venezuela dan Cuba

Hentikan campurtangan imperialis di Amerika Latin.

Solidariti dengan perjuangan rakyat menentukan nasib sendiri

Kami memanjangkan solidariti kami kepada rakyat tertindas di mana-mana sahaja, termasuk Papua, Palestin, Kashmir dan Rojava.

Keadilan untuk petani

Bangunkan sebuah program yang komprehensif untuk meningkatkan jaminan makanan, untuk memastikan akses rakyat kepada makanan sihat dan melindungi mata pencarian petani-petani kecil tempatan di semua negara. Kami memberi penghormatan kepada kemenangan petani-petani India yang berjaya menewaskan serangan daripada kerajaan Modi.

Golongan elit kapitalis tidak dapat menyelesaikan masalah rakyat. Alternatifnya ialah sosialisme yang berasaskan organisasi akar umbi dan demokrasi popular. Kami mengikrarkan solidariti kami untuk memajukan perjuangan demi mencapai matlamat ini.

**********

Penganjur Sosialisme 2021 terdiri daripada:

• Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM)
• Partai Rakyat Pekerja (PRP), Indonesia
• Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), Filipina
• Socialist Workers Thailand
• Kesatuan Perjuangan Rakyat (KPR), Indonesia
• Socialist Alliance, Australia.

Kenyataan bersama ini juga boleh didapati dalam versi Bahasa Inggeris, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Thai dan Bahasa Tionghua.

Such is the irony of the situation for those employed on school premises, hospital buildings and other government offices. The government has failed to protect the employees working under their very roofs.

Who are these workers? They are the cleaners in government buildings as well as the security guards in public schools, government hospitals, ministries, government departments and agencies. There are an estimated 230,000 such workers.

Prior to the mid-1990s, all cleaners, gardeners and security guards on government premises were civil servants who were guaranteed job security. However, when the 4th Prime Minister — Tun Dr. Mahathir — introduced the privatization policy in 1996, the existing system switched to a contract system that effectively dismantled their secure employment. 

This contract system was initially established to create a group of Malay contractors, and was intended to help encourage the participation of Malay entrepreneurs in the business sector. Hence, all staff who were initially employed directly by the government had then transitioned to being employed by contractor companies, where they continued their work as usual on the same premises. 

Contractor companies were awarded contracts by the government’s procurement unit for a fixed period — usually around three years. Once this period was over, the contractor would resubmit their tender bid. If it was a different company that eventually succeeded in securing the tender, the existing workers would end up being absorbed as employees of the new contractor. 

This means that, even an employee who has worked as a school building cleaner for a period of 20 years, would be treated as a new employee every 3 years, with their salary and other benefits remaining at the level of a new staff. It also means that they will only be paid minimum wage, despite having years of experience. No increases in salary, because they will be considered a new employee to every contractor! Their entitlement to annual leave and sick leave will also remain the same. 

Apart from this, security guards also face issues with delays in the payments of wages, unexplained deduction from wages, irregularities in calculating overtime pay, insufficient EPF, SOCSO, Employment Insurance System (EIS) contributions and so on.

Contract workers employed as cleaners in government hospitals also suffer bad working conditions, despite being in the front line of Covid-19 frontliners. At a time when the world is fighting against Covid-19, our government still refuses to acknowledge these contractors as frontliners.

Doctors and nurses at hospitals are recognised as frontliners and have been granted an allowance of RM600 under the pandemic stimulus package in 2020. Budget 2021 also included allocations for a special allowance for this group. However, contract workers on the premises of government hospitals, like cleaners and security guards, have not been granted this same recognition. The government is discriminating against this group of workers. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions) Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof had once also said in Parliament that hospitals cleaners would not be given the payment or ‘one-off’ assistance of RM300 (https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/553331). 

Do they not realise that, both before and after doctors or nurses treat a patient, it is the contract workers who have to clean the area? How is it that they are not acknowledged as frontliners even though they face the same risks as doctors and nurses? 

This is the kind of oppression workers face as a result of the contract system. In order for just a handful of Malays to be made into entrepreneurs, the majority of Malay workers are oppressed and deprived of their rights.

The contract system currently practised clearly contradicts the Employees Act 1955. Section 11 of the Employees Act states that a job can only be offered as a ‘fixed term contract’, if it is seasonal work, specific and not always required. This refers to construction work or maintenance work, that will be over once the construction or maintenance is completed.

However, cleaning work on government premises as well as security work in buildings will be required for as long as that building is still functioning. So why is it then, that these workers are hired permanently as contact workers and then let-go-of when they are no longer needed? 

This contract system only exists to protect political cronies in order to maintain the political and financial stability of the ruling government. It allows a middleman, i.e. a contractor company, who has no actual links to the work and the workplace, to control and lead the workers. These middlemen or contractors violate employment laws and often prey on employees by failing to contribute to Socso, EPF and so on. 

Although many complaints have been lodged against these oppressive contractors, they seem to be unaffected and are still able to successfully secure government contracts. Even when blacklisted, they are easily able to use other contractor companies, under the names of their family members, to continue doing business and bidding for government tenders. 

The contract system that was first introduced was supposed to help reduce government expenditure by outsourcing such services, as this would mean that the government would not have to pay workers or undertake efforts to protect their welfare. 

Nevertheless, in the last 25 years, the reality is that this system has burdened the government with even more costs, as the Department of Manpower (JTK) and the Department of Industrial Relations (JPP) has had to handle lots of complaints regarding the poor treatment of workers by private contractors.

Therefore, this system of employing workers on a contract basis due to the outsourcing of services on government premises must be stopped. PSM urges the government to continue absorbing these workers as permanent government employees with the same benefits other civil servants are entitled to. This indirect suppression of workers’ rights by the government is ironic and shameful. For the sake of workers’ rights, it must be stopped immediately.

This article is part of an ongoing series in PSM’s alternative action plan, Pelan Pemulihan Nasional. The basic document can be found here. (https://partisosialis.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Dokumen-Asas-Pemulihan-Nasional.pdf)

A. Sivarajan

Secretary General, Parti Sosialis Malaysia

Strengthening Social Protections

Guaranteed Basic Income Scheme: RM1000 monthly for families who have lost their sources of income due to the Covid-19 MCO.

Since March of 2020, PSM has urged the government to introduce a Guaranteed Basic Income scheme for those who have lost their source of income due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

PSM’s action plan document titled “Kemelesetan Ekonomi Pasca Covid 19 : Cadangan Memulihkan Negara Demi Rakyat” (Economic Hardship Due to Covid-19: Suggestions for Restoring the Country for the Sake of the Citizens) suggests that every family that has lost their source of income should be paid as much as RM1000 to ensure they aren’t at risk of falling into poverty. This document was submitted to the Prime Minister in July of 2020. 

Unfortunately, however, the government has stuck with a “one-off” model of aid. The Bantuan Khas Covid (BKC) (Covid Special Assistance) Scheme that was introduced is a “one-off” payment whereby individuals living in extreme poverty will be paid RM1300 per household, RM500 per elder citizen, and RM500 for single individuals on an instalment basis. B40 citizens on the other hand will receive a payment of RM800 per household, or RM200 for elderly citizens and single individuals. BKC Aid will also be extended to M40 individuals. Those who have a combined household income of above RM5000 are counted as part of the M40. As much as RM3.1 billion has been allocated for these payments. 

PSM suggests that compared to such “one-off” payments that are broadly distributed from people living in extreme poverty to M40 individuals, it would be more beneficial if the government focused their aid on households that have truly lost their source of income as a result of Covid-19. Aid granted through a Guaranteed Basic Income scheme—that’s modelled after the concept of Universal Basic Income—can help such households handle basic household costs like food. 

In one field research conducted by the Department of Statistics in Malaysia in March 2020, they determined that it is self-employed individuals who have most clearly been affected by a loss of work. As many as 46.6% of self-employed respondents said that they have lost their incomes, as compared to 23.8% of employees, 1.8% of private-sector workers, 0.4% of those working for MNCs, and 0.4% of those working for GLCs. 

This same study reported that as many as 71.4% of respondents who were self-employed only had less than a month’s income worth of savings, compared to 49.2% of employees, 58% of private-sector workers, 31.2% of MNC employees, and 28.9% of GLC workers. As such, immediate monthly aid at this critical time when they’ve lost work is incredibly important.

PSM suggests that this aid  be given to those who have lost work and have no other sources of aid. As such, those who receive other sources of aid will be excluded, such as those who: 

1. Are receiving SOCSO payments and who can benefit from the Employment Insurance Scheme or other such programs;
2. Receive fixed pensions (whether from government retirees or other sources) which are greater than RM1000 per month;
3. Are government staff;
4. Still have alternative sources of work (after losing their primary jobs);
5. Still have a source of income that is taxable;
6. Still work in the public, private/business sector, or other related fields;

This suggestion is specifically for anyone who has lost their source of income; like formal sector workers, small-scale self-employed individuals, and micro-entrepreneurs that have lost their source of work at this time.

Right now, the aid provided by the government like the Wage Subsidy or Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) aid only helps formal sector workers.

Meanwhile, there are around 3 million informal workers and 2 million self-employed individuals who have absolutely no support system when they’ve lost their primary source of income due to the business shutdown in the time of the pandemic.

The estimated necessary cost if this scheme was extended to 700,000 families (10%) at a rate of as much as RM1000, means that we would need RM8.4 billion a year.

The concept for this Guaranteed Basic Income aid scheme comes from the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI). This isn’t for the purposes of making citizens lazy with a monthly cash payment of RM1000 into their personal accounts. Rather, it’s a social safety net that ensures that households who have suddenly lost their sources of income don’t have to go hungry. A more detailed explanation about the concept of UBI can be found in the following article:

https://thinkleft.net/2020/05/18/implement-a-modified-ubi-urgently/ (ThinkLeft)

Under the current poverty line of RM2208 per month of household income, roughly 8.3% of households are classified as being in absolute poverty. The threat of Covid and the economic recession directly affects these most vulnerable citizens in the most devastating way. As such, imagine what happens when they’ve lost their primary source of income. Immediate aid of RM10000 towards these households, at the very least, can enable these families to prepare food and other basic necessities until the primary breadwinners for these households can find new work or sources of income.

As such, in the action plan document “Pemulihan Nasional Haluan Baru Untuk Malaysia – Permintaan Rakyat Mudah Je”, PSM has included a resolution that our citizens need the aid of this Guaranteed Basic Income scheme immediately, and not the “one-off” style aid that has clearly failed to heal the socio-economic conditions of affected households effectively.

A. Sivarajan, Secretary General of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM)