MOHR should be stern in protecting job seekers from discrimination

Pusat KOMAS

Press Statement for Immediate Release dates 25th September 2019

Ministry of Human Resources under the purview of Minister YB Kula Segaran must declare whether the welfare and rights of the future workforce is a priority in the nation’s reform agenda championed by the Pakatan Harapan government. The future workforce comprises of, but not limited to fresh graduates, teenagers, and women – of all races, religions, and background – entering with the hope of igniting or improving their career.

We note the Ministry has stated that no final decision has been made on whether to include or remove

protection for job seekers in the Employment Act as they are waiting for Cabinet to make the decision. We urge all cabinet ministers to support protecting job seekers from discrimination.

The PH government entrusted by the people has an uncompromising responsibility that an equal and

non-discriminatory employment opportunities are created to cater the burgeoning rate of unemployment and underemployment in Malaysia.

Excluding job seekers from the proposed anti-discrimination provisions leaves them vulnerable to

arbitrary discriminatory practices by employers. The exclusion of job seekers from this provision would condone unwarranted discriminations - primarily on the grounds of ethnicity, language, religion, gender and disability.

Pusat KOMAS has also recorded instances where numerous job seekers have been denied job interviews due to their ethnic origins. Additionally, job advertisements preferring specific ethnic groups by employers were also reported and featured in our annual Malaysia Racial Discrimination Report (2018). These accounts of racial discriminations in the preliminary stages towards employment were proven to be digressing our path to build an inclusive society that promotes unity in diversity.

One common argument against protecting job seekers from discrimination under the Employment Act is that the Act only covers employees and employers, and not job seekers. This argument, however, has been refuted by many lawyers including former Malaysian Bar president Ragunath Kesavan. He stressed that such protection for job seekers is both “reasonable” and essential, and further highlighted that there is no barrier to prohibiting discrimination during recruitment. There have also been suggestions to instead introduce a separate pre-employment act. However, this is unnecessary as the Employment Act can be amended to cover the pre-employment phase.

Protecting job seekers from discrimination is in line with the spirit of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto. One of Pakatan Harapan’s promises is to form the Commission of Fair Employment Opportunities

(Suruhanjaya Peluang Pekerjaan Saksama). The Commission is meant to address discriminatory

recruitment practices among employers in the public and private sectors. The manifesto also clearly

states that all Malaysian would be given equal employment opportunities regardless of their ethnicities. By removing job seekers from the proposed anti-discrimination provision in the Employment Act, the government is departing from the spirit of its manifesto.

Therefore, we strictly remind the government to weigh in the importance of including job seekers within the law instead of packaging it merely as toothless guidelines.

For further information kindly contact Mr Ryan Chua, Pusat KOMAS (016-301 0380).

This statement is endorsed by:
1. AGRO
2. Aliran
3. All Women’s Action Society (AWAM)
4. Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (ABIM)
5. Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ)
6. Childline Foundation
7. Foreign Spouse Support Group (FSSG)
8. Galen Centre for Health Social Policy
9. Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF)
10. Jaringan Kampung Orang Asal Malaysia (JOAS)
11. Komuniti Muslim Universal (KMU)
12. Malaysian Action for Justice and Unity Foundation (MAJU)
13. My PJ
14. Parti Sosialis Malaysia
15. Pergerakan Tenaga Akademik Malaysia (GERAK)
16. Persatuan Sahabat Wanita Selangor (PSWS)
17. Pertubuhan Ikram Malaysia (IKRAM)
18. Pusat KOMAS
19. Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia (SABM)
20. SCRIPS
21. Suaram
22. The Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham)
23. Toy Libraries Malaysia
24. University Malay Association of New Youth (UMANY)
25. Women Aid Organization (WAO)

From Academia to Putrajaya

8th Education International World Congress, Bangkok, Thailand

The 8th. Education International World Congress that was held in Bangkok, Thailand were divided into the pre-congress sessions which ran from 19 – 21 July 2019 and the congress which ran from 22 – 26 July 2019. There were three main caucuses for the pre-congress sessions, namely the LGBTI Caucus, the Further and Higher Education Caucus, the Indigenous People’s Caucus, and the Women’s Caucus.

At the LGBTI Caucus, various issues were raised including the need for acceptance, awareness, and equity of LGBTI in schools, particularly in how the students and teachers who belong to the community are treated. There have been cases of bullying and discrimination in some countries while there were also success stories shared by some. The concept of Intersectionality was also introduced where participants were reminded of the many layers or Intersectionality that one has. In more conservative and religious countries like Malaysia, it is more important to advocate for the basic right of the LGBTI community to be treated respectfully without discrimination.

For the Further and Higher Education Caucus, discussions revolved around the threat of neoliberalism, political and corporate interference into higher education which privatization and commercialization. Due to lack of funding allocated by governments, many institutions of higher learning resort to precarious employment, which in return affect the bargaining power of the precarious staff, and also the quality of education and research. Various strategies were shared on how to address the issues raised including strengthening the network of unions.

The Women’s Caucus kicked off with a forum where 2 guest speakers spoke of their own experiences and aspirations as women leaders in the region: 1. Rashidah Shuib of the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women, who is also from Sister in Islam. 2. Sai Jyothirmai Racherla, also from the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women.  The day continued with various parallel roundtable sessions covering topics such as women and leadership, regional perspective of women unionists, and resolutions through a gender lens.

The congress went on for 5 days from 22 July to 26 July where 1400 educators from across the globe convened with the theme “Taking the Lead”. The president, Susan Hopgood called on all members to take the lead in bringing about changes so that education is made available and accessible to all. Among the main themes that were highlighted throughout the 5-day congress were neo-liberalism being a threat to democracy, Intersectionality, the importance of union renewal and succession through younger unionists, equity in education as a basic human right, social justice, women & leadership, and climate change. It was highlighted throughout the congress that the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” has not been achieved in most if not all countries, and that all parties especially governments are urged to ensure that the goal is achieved.

A total of 41 resolutions, either pertaining to constitutional amendments or current urgent actions, were presented at the congress where some were passed while others rejected. GERAK was entitled to 2 votes for the resolutions where we exercised our rights in voting for (or against) the resolutions. While many of the resolutions presented were on universal education rights, two particular resolutions relevant to GERAK’s aspirations were “Academic Freedom in Higher Education” and “Safeguarding Academic Freedom in Higher Education and Research”. On behalf of GERAK, Dr Lai Suat Yan and Dr Yuwana Podin went on stage to show solidarity with two urgent resolutions on academic freedom and democracy in Djibouti and Hong Kong.

Throughout the congress, all three representatives, Dr Lai Suat Yan, Dr Ngo Sheau Shi, and Dr Yuwana Podin of GERAK have been very active in participating in discussions of various topics in the different sessions. Dr Lai Suat Yan was invited as one of the speakers in the session “Teachers as autonomous professionals” and a moderator in the session “No to Harassment at Work”. Dr Ngo Sheau Shi was actively participating in discussions and even helped to prepare statements in supporting some of the resolutions. Dr Yuwana Podin, being GERAK’s principal delegate this time, was appointed as one of the election committee members representing the Asia-Pacific region in overseeing the executive board member election process. She also participated in the election process.

In terms of networking, Dr Lai Suat Yan is exploring with David Robinson from the Canadian Association of University Teachers possible capacity building workshops in relation to deep organizing or engaging others to join GERAK and academic staff associations. In addition, a possible workshop is to build activist skills in terms of bargaining, filing grievances, creating attractive visual materials, making effective smartphone movies and communicating through the media which we, GERAK exco, could be co-trainers. Another possibility is a workshop on equity and diversity. This will be presented to the GERAK exco for consideration in the coming meeting in August. Dr Lai Suat Yan and Dr Dina Bacalexi (FERC-CGT, France) met during the Congress to firm up the idea for a panel on sexual harassment for future sessions. The panel on sexual harassment was first initiated at the 12th Further and Higher Education and Research Conference in Taiwan. Dr Ngo Sheau Shi, Dr Yuwana Podin and Dr Lai Suat Yan are also currently working on a joint article tentatively titled “Challenges and Strategies Forward in Reclaiming Higher Education in ‘New’ Malaysia” for the special bilingual version of the French magazine "La vie de la recherche scientifique".

All in all, it was a valuable 8-day congress where many networks were established, gaps bridged, friendship made, and strategies plotted in pushing for academic freedom in Malaysia.

 Yuwana in the EI election committee

 Malaysian delegation: Ngo Sheau Shi (GERAK), Lai Suat Yan (GERAK), Rashidah Shuib, Yuwana Podin (GERAK)

 With comrades from Hong Kong

Sheau Shi with the EI president, secretary and past secretary

 Suat Yan moderating a session

Yuwana supporting a motion

Copyright Issues and Teachers' Dilemma in Asia Pacific

 

Robert Jeyakumar
World of Education, 13 September 2019

https://worldsofeducation.org/en/woe_homepage/woe_detail/16411/%E2%80%9Ccopyright-issues-and-teachers-dilemma-in-asia-pacific%E2%80%9D-by-dr-robert-jeyakumar?fbclid=IwAR0HeBpJgPP5OgK5eNWwfVVC4iHjenetk5H3zMidK6Rnmp4Ux6X76RF0KBU

I woke up in Budapest on a fine summer morning to deliver a lecture using materials I had prepared in Malaysia in accordance with copyright exceptions allowed in Malaysia. Just before the lecture, I was informed that my materials did not conform to copyright laws in the EU. Dismay! This was just the beginning of my series of lectures, I still had to deliver lectures in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the UK. I began to wonder how many versions of the lecture materials I had to prepare. Cross-border education in the 21st century should allow greater mobility and copyright exceptions for both printed and digital works, no?

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Asia-Pacific Regional Seminar was held in Singapore on the 28th to 30th April 2019. I took part in the event as a member of the EI delegation to express our teacher concerns on copyright issues. Among the objectives of this seminar was to gather views from teacher unions on copyright exceptions for education. In 2017, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) commissioned a study to analyse copyright laws in the 191 WIPO Member States. One of the main objectives was to understand how copyright laws create barriers or support the work of teachers and how countries protect educational exceptions from contractual and technological overrides. Education International advocates that when the law allows educators to use digital works, they should not be prevented from doing so; however, this remains a challenge for educators from most WIPO member states.

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During the seminar, WIPO provided several questions to be answered by representatives of states and civil society groups. They included which types of materials are used by educators, which educational or research activities they undertake and whether they engage in cross-border activities on online learning platforms. Topics that were superficially addressed were digital locks and the use of digital works that are often neglected in national copyright laws. The following paragraphs are from notes used by teacher groups to answer the three fundamental questions on copyrights and their impact on teaching and learning. 

Diversity of teaching materials and activities needs to be considered

The role of the teacher is to make education informative and engaging. Hence, teachers use materials accessible to them for teaching in and out of classrooms. The classroom itself should not be inferior to the living room of a student. If a student can watch a YouTube video from her SmartTV at home, why can’t her teacher show a YouTube video in class? As can be seen in the infographic below, these are big challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. In addition to the traditional act of making copies of printed materials for teaching, teachers are increasingly using digital works in education. These include online videos from YouTube or social media sites, taking a picture of a diagram in the textbook and sharing it with student groups via Instant Messaging Apps such as Whatsapp. The nature of teaching and learning in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution has changed dramatically; the current students who are “digital natives” learn more effectively in a hybrid learning ecosystem that capitalizes on both physical and digital tools.

Source: Teresa N., (2019) Copyright and Educational Activities in Asia-Pacific. Education International.

Digital locks are a major barrier to teaching and research

Technical Protection Measures (TPM), also known as Digital Locks, may create obstacles in countries where the copyright laws do not foresee the right to use materials protected by such digital locks when the use is made under an educational exception. For example, Malaysia has a very broad educational exception, which covers many of the different educational activities of teachers, but the exception is of little use with regard to digital materials if the materials are protected with digital locks. In such cases, the digital locks may simply override the education exception. The circumvention of TPM blocks the exercise of the right to education copyright exceptions in Malaysia.

Cross-border research and teaching activities are a reality!

The future landscape of education is one that is mobile and beyond national boundaries. Relating to my own experience delivering lectures abroad, teachers may experience similar problems while giving lectures based on their own material in foreign countries, as the works used which had the copyright cleared in the home country may not be cleared abroad. Teachers and students may not be able to collaborate across borders because their copyright laws differ and, therefore, may not be able to exchange materials or us them as required for collaborative work (e.g. adding subtitles, doing translations, etc.). Several means of communications, including email, instant messaging and cloud services, are also not yet included in copyright exceptions.

Teachers and learners may face problems in obtaining material from abroad because of geo-blocking of online content. Educational institutions developing distance learning courses may not be able to offer their courses across borders because they cannot clear the rights on all the materials used in every country of the world. The web streaming of an academic conference also raises copyright obstacles because the educational institution cannot universally clear the rights of the copyrighted materials shown in the conference. The use of copyrighted material may be subject to a license, and the license may not cover the territory where the teachers want to use the material. Such modern educational practices are increasingly common in academia in Malaysia and in the Asia-Pacific region.

These restrictions on education raise an overwhelming need to relook at the copyright exceptions for education. This is essential for quality teaching and research as recognized in the internationally ratified UNESCO/ILO recommendation concerning the status of teachers and the UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of higher-education teaching personnel, teachers need to have the academic freedom and professional autonomy to choose and adapt teaching and learning materials without being restrained.

We need an international instrument such as the draft Treaty on Copyright Exceptions and Limitations for Educational and Research Activities (TERA) to promote national level reforms and establish minimum standards as well as legal clarity for cross-border education collaboration and exchange. Therefore, my organisation, the Malaysian Academic Movement (MOVE) voted for a global teacher union resolution on this topic at EI’s recent World Congress in Bangkok.  The current educational realities are complex, and a balanced approach to copyright is urgently needed; one that will free teachers to do what they do best – Teach without Restrictions!

Dr. Robert Jeyakumar

Robert serves as the Assistant Secretary General for Malaysian Academic Movement (MOVE), an EI member organisation that promotes quality education, academic freedom and autonomy in Malaysia and in the region. He is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Business, Multimedia University, Malaysia.