Category: Development EN

The recent disclosures made by Dr. Selva Vathany Pillai concerning malpractice and the misappropriation of resources by hospital authorities at the Gombak Hospital, brings into stark focus, the social and health status of this community. The Orang Asli, (aboriginal peoples), who are the most marginalised community in the country continue to suffer the loss of their lands through resettlement,...

Conventional development, under which the rich take from Third World people most of the value produced by their labour, land and capital, is a subtle and little-recognised form of theft. By Ted Trainer There are two quite different ways of conceiving development. The conventional approach tells poor Third World people to increase their exports, because then they will earn more money and be able...

While the anti-democratic nature of the centralised nation state is undesirable, the emergence of corporate protectionism under globalisation is the real threat to democratic rights and economic livelihoods, says the writer. Countering this recolonisation requires the reinvention of national sovereignty by democratic processes, to create national systems which act in partnership with local...

A life with zero income does not have to be degrading, if people can provide all their own needs for themselves. On the other hand, an income of $25,000 may be called poverty when all needs must be bought in, and such a sum is insufficient for the purpose. By Jeremy Seabrook There is a problem with most definitions of poverty, in that they do not do what they claim to. Thus, it is common for...

CAP draws attention to a report in a local English daily in August 2008 that the current chemical fertiliser import bill amounts to RM5 billion for the oil palm industry alone. The bill was estimated “to increase two fold due to higher petroleum and other commodity prices”. This is a frightening scenario. As stated by the honourable Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk...

In his valedictory address on his graduation from university, the author asks why, despite all the reports of impressive economic growth and trade figures, high corporate profits and stock market activity, the world today is in such a bad shape, with high unemployment, widespread starvation, and environmental degradation. His conclusion — GDP and other conventional yardsticks of global economic...

We must learn to look at nature as something sacred ... or we will have no future By José Lutzenberger TODAY we find ourselves in an absurd situation. Twenty per cent of us, mostly in the so-called First World but also the rich elsewhere, live a suicidal lifestyle that is simply not sustainable. There is hardly a patch on this Earth that we are not yet in some way exploiting or getting ready to...

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) is appalled at the state of affairs concerning the safety of our buildings and the safety standards practiced by local and foreign contractors here. The country is still reeling from the tragedy of the Jaya Supermarket deaths and now we have another near miss in the form of the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium roof collapse in Kuala Terengganu. It is...