Sunday, October 22, 2023

 Israeli protesters seek Netanyahu's resignation, prisoner deal with Hamas


Some 200 Israelis protest near Israeli Defence Ministry building in Tel Aviv, blaming PM Benjamin Netanyahu for current Middle East crisis and demanding his resignation.



REUTERS

Residents of Tel Aviv show solidarity with the families of hostages and missing people / Photo: Reuters

Nearly 200 Israelis have rallied in Tel Aviv to demand the release of detainees held by Hamas in besieged Gaza and the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said on Saturday the demonstration took place near the Israeli Defence Ministry building.

Protesters demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and blamed him for the current situation.

Netanyahu has been facing protests in Israel since the start of the year almost every week over his controversial judicial overhaul plan.

Hamas' armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades, said on October 17 that it is holding as many as 250 Israelis in captivity.

The Al Qassam Brigades released two Americans on humanitarian grounds on Friday, which it said was in response to efforts by Qatar.



War on Gaza

The conflict in Gaza, under Israeli bombardment and blockade since October 7, began when Palestinian resistance group Hamas initiated Operation Al Aqsa Flood — a multi-pronged surprise raid that included a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into Israel by land, sea and air.

Hamas said the incursion was in retaliation for the storming of the Al Aqsa Mosque, growing violence by illegal Israeli settlers, and consistent raids on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Before the start of the fight, 2023 was considered the deadliest year for Palestinians that didn't involve major clashes between the two sides.

The Israeli military then launched Operation Swords of Iron on besieged Gaza.

At least 4,385 Palestinians, including 1,756 children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza. The figure stands at more than 1,400 in Israel.

Israelis feel abandoned by Netanyahu after October 7

A recent poll shows high support for a ground invasion in Gaza, but dismal numbers for the prime minister.

By Ellen Ioanes  
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Ellen Ioanes covers breaking and general assignment news as the weekend reporter at Vox. She previously worked at Business Insider covering the military and global conflicts.

Two weeks after Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are likely preparing to wage a massive ground assault in Gaza. Though many Israelis are supportive of such a move, they don’t necessarily trust Netanyahu to carry it out — or have their future security in mind.

Prior to the October 7 attacks Netanyahu’s right-wing government was already deeply unpopular among large swathes of society. A plan to degrade the ability of the Supreme Court to push back on laws passed by the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, sparked massive national protests out of concern that Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition would pass increasingly hard-line laws with no mechanism for pushback. Now, his government is being held at least partly responsible for the massive security failure that enabled the attacks.

Some of the highest-ranking officials in the government, including the head of the armed forces and the security services, have taken responsibility for the lapses and blind spots that allowed Hamas to kill at least 1,400 Israelis and kidnap 200, mostly civilians.

“The Military Intelligence Directorate, under my command, failed to warn of the terror attack carried out by Hamas,” Maj. Gen Aharon Haliva, head of the Israel Defense Forces military intelligence unit, said in a letter to IDF personnel. “We failed in our most important mission, and as the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, I bear full responsibility for the failure.”

But Netanyahu himself has thus far failed apologize or take responsibility for his government’s failure to carry out its primary task — to protect Israel’s citizens. Furthermore, the government’s strategy in Gaza and its war with Hamas remains unclear.

Israel’s military response — and the future of Gaza — is still being determined

Nearly two weeks after Netanyahu declared war on Hamas and 360,000 IDF reservists reported for duty, Israel’s military response — other than to make sure Hamas is “crushed and eliminated” — is as yet unknown, as is the government’s plans for Gaza once it achieves that objective.

In the past, Netanyahu has opted for airstrikes as retaliation against Hamas, rather than bloody and costly ground invasions.

According to a 2017 research brief by the RAND corporation, Israel has the military capability to wipe out Hamas, but doing so could perhaps be even riskier than not, given that an even more extreme organization could come into power — or that Israel could be put into the position of governing the territory itself. “As such, Israel’s grand strategy became ‘mowing the grass’ — accepting its inability to permanently solve the problem and instead repeatedly targeting leadership of Palestinian militant organizations to keep violence manageable.”

That strategy, of “mowing the grass,” is no longer satisfactory given its ineffectiveness and the enormous breach of the Israeli public’s trust that happened on October 7. There is support for a ground invasion, per a limited poll from the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv; 65 percent of Israelis believe it’s the correct response.

A ground operation could be incredibly difficult and costly both for Palestinians in Gaza and for the IDF, as Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explained:

“Clearing and holding this kind of environment poses an immense challenge for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Their soldiers would need to move very slowly with limited air support, intentionally putting their own lives at risk — or else risk absolutely massive civilian casualties. Success also requires good intelligence, but the fact that Hamas managed such a horrific surprise attack on October 7 suggests that Israel’s understanding of militants in the Strip — including their defenses — may be much weaker than widely appreciated.”

As Natan Sachs, director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution told Vox, “We’re closer [to a ground invasion] in the sense that it is coming. Israel taking some time to prepare and define some clear objectives is a good choice and one that could ultimately save not only Israeli but also Palestinian lives.”

As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Saturday, the IDF has already begun launching airstrikes in northern Gaza to prepare for the ground invasion.

Perhaps even more of a challenge, though, is what happens once the ground invasion is over.

As the Times of Israel reported Tuesday, National Unity Party head Benny Gantz and Gadi Eizenkot, both of whom are part of Netanyahu’s unity security cabinet, have demanded an exit plan from Gaza should a ground invasion go through.

“Given the stated goal of destroying Hamas, both the Israeli government and the IDF must consider how the war ends as well as how it is conducted,” Kevin Benson, a retired US Army colonel and an adjunct scholar at West Point’s Modern War Institute wrote in a recent piece. “The Israeli government knows, or should know, what force can and cannot do.”

After such a failure on the part of the state, how can Israelis get behind a government they’re so angry with?

They’re not, exactly. The same Ma’ariv poll that indicated support for the ground invasion showed an abysmal lack of support — 28 percent — for Netanyahu himself. Forty-eight percent of respondents thought Gantz, part of the newly-formed unity government and a former defense minister, would make a better prime minister.

Gantz and other moderate, experienced members of the unity government did instill a bit more trust in the state’s response to the crisis, Shany Granot-Lubaton, an Israeli protest leader living in the US told Vox in an interview. “I’m happy that they’re there — it’s a life-risking moment and I feel better that more people who I trust are sitting around the table,” she said.

But even more moderate and experienced voices have to contend with hard-right ministers such as Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir — not to mention Netanyahu himself. “I think they should have replaced this government and not get into a unity with [Netanyahu],” Granot said.

Ideally, “the unity government provides a basis for solidarity and offers a ‘timeout’ from the usual political struggles, enabling crucial decisions to be made in line with a broad national consensus,” Assaf Shapira, director of the political reform program at the Israel Democracy Institute, wrote in an October 10 piece.

“It’s about bringing in people who were chief of staff, and who were not involved in the current disaster,” said Gideon Rahat, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told the New York Times last week. “They are not responsible for it, so they can help to get out of it.”

In the wake of the attacks some 360,000 reservists — Israel’s largest mobilization effort — reported for duty. Just months ago, many of those reservists said they would refuse to serve if the government’s controversial judicial reforms became law.

“The government isn’t really a government, it’s more a vehicle for the creation of the mini war cabinet,” Sachs said. It can only make decisions related to the war — and it’s “pivotal” for that purpose, Sachs told vox.

“You see the protest movement is literally running the country right now,” Granot-Lubaton said. “We see Brothers and Sisters [for Israel, the civil aid group] have their headquarters down south, they’ve been saving people from their homes … because the government didn’t do their job.”

Families of the hostages presumed to be in Gaza have been notified that their loved ones are among those kidnapped, but there has been no government effort to inform the families about what is being done to help rescue their family members, Yardena Schwarz reported for Foreign Policy on Friday.

Many civilians who participated in this summer’s protest movement have pivoted to form a system to support people displaced from the towns and villages devastated by the October 7 Hamas raid. They collect food and clothing for the displaced and coordinate medical care, as well as collect information about hostages and identify people still missing after the attack.

“There isn’t even one minister that we say that we can trust,” Granot-Lubaton said. “There isn’t even one office that is doing what we are expecting them to do — not the health system, not the social security system, not the defense system — no one is doing their job, and people are feeling so scared.”

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From Nakba 1948 to Gaza 2023: Palestinian sufferings never end


QNA
 EDITED OCTOBER 22, 2023 

The ongoing Israeli entity’s atrocities in the Gaza Strip and calls for displacement of its population have reproduced the 1948 Palestinian expulsion (Nakba) when 957,000 Palestinians, over half of the pre-war Mandatory Palestine’s 1.4mn Arab population, were forced to flee their homeland, thousands of them were forcibly displaced in the territories seized by the Israeli occupation.

At this time, the Zionist gangs seized 774 Palestinian villages and cities, 531 of which were completely destroyed, while the rest were subjected to the occupation entity. This cleansing coincided with over 51 massacres, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians martyrs. In fact, the Nakba was only the outset of a Palestinian tragedy that is still running.
The Deir Yassin massacre in April 1948, was the first Israeli occupation massacre when Zionists killed at least 107 Palestinian Arab villagers, including women and children, in Deir Yassin — a village of roughly 600 people near Jerusalem, despite having earlier agreed to a peace pact. This was followed by the 1953 massacre against the Al Bureij refugee camp and the 1954 massacre against Nahalin, Bethlehem.

On June 5, 1967, the Israeli entity usurped what remained of historic Palestine — East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip — along with Syria’s Golan Heights and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, in what was known as the Six Day War. In this war, the were huge: 25,000 Arabs were martyred and 80% of the Arab countries military equipment was devastated. Nearly 300,000 Palestinians were displaced from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, nearly 100,000 Golan residents were forced to quit their homes into Syria, and thousands from the Sinai Peninsula were forced to flee into Egyptian territory. Only 800 Israelis were killed.

In Sept 1982, three-day mass killings in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camp in Lebanon claimed hundreds of people, a horrific collective trauma, the impacts of which are still engraved in the memory of the Lebanese and Palestinians. Five years later, a total of 1,555 Palestinians were martyred in the First Palestinian Intifada, aka Stone Intifada — a comprehensive Palestinian uprising that lasted five years, using stones as a weapon to confront the vehicles and equipment of the occupation army and settlers. The Second Palestinian Intifada, aka Al-Aqsa Intifada, broke out on Sept 28, 2000 and saw about 4,412 Palestinians martyrs and 48,322 injured.

Israeli occupation repeatedly invaded areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip including the Operation Defensive Shield, a matter which triggered the Second Intifada after the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque by then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon under the protection of about two thousand soldiers and special forces and with the approval of then prime minister Ehud Barak, prompting protests by crowds of worshippers and the outbreak of first confrontations in this Intifada.

Palestinian child Mohamed al-Durrah was a Second Intifada symbol. France 2 cameraman on Sept 30, 2000 filmed the then 11-year-old and his father crouching behind a concrete cylinder southern Gaza City, before he was shot dead by Israeli army.

In Sept 2007, the Israeli entity designated Gaza a hostile entity, and in October of the same year, it imposed a comprehensive siege on it. Since this siege, Israel began its Operation Cast Lead against the Gaza Strip, a 23-day offensive to which the Palestinian resistance responded with the Battle of Al Furqan. During this offensive that ended Jan 18, 2009, the occupation used internationally prohibited weapons such as white phosphorus and depleted uranium, and released more than a thousand tons of explosives. This war claimed over 1,430 Palestinians, including more than 400 children, 240 women, and 134 policemen, in addition to more than 5,400 wounded. More than 10,000 homes were completely or partially destroyed. In turn, the occupation admitted the killing of 13 Israelis, including 10 soldiers, and the wounding of 300 others.

In 2012, the occupation forces launched Operation Pillar of Defence, to which the Palestinian resistance responded with Battle of the Shale Stones. This eight-day offensive that began on Nov 14, 2012 aimed to destroy the sites where the Palestinian resistance stored their missiles. About 180 Palestinians were martyred in this aggression, including 42 children and 11 women, and about another 1,300 were wounded.

Two years later, Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, triggering the “Al Asef Al Macul” Battle on the side of the Palestinian resistance. The 51-day confrontations saw the occupation army launching over 60,000 raids on the Gaza Strip, leaving 2,322 martyrs and 11,000 wounded. Israel committed massacres against 144 families, each of which had at least three members martyred.

In 2021, The Battle of Saif Al Quds, which Israel called Operation Guardian of the Walls, broke out after settlers seized the homes of Jerusalemites in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, as well as because of the Israeli forces storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque. This war resulted in about 250 Palestinian martyrs and more than 5,000 wounded. Israel also bombed several residential towers.

At dawn on Saturday, Oct 7, 2023, the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip responded to the ongoing occupation violations in occupied Jerusalem with an expanded operation called Al-Aqsa Flood, through which it sought to put an end to Israeli violations against Palestinians and prisoners in occupation prisons.

The occupation army, in complete violation of international laws and norms, launched a military campaign against the civilian population in the entire Gaza Strip, killing and wounding thousands, most of them women and children. Israel also cut water and electricity, closed all crossings leading to the enclave, and threatened to strike any relief trucks.

Qatar’s support for Palestinian cause: Firm principles, humanitarian values

QNA
OCTOBER 22, 2023 |

A Qatari plane carrying 37 tonnes of food and medical aid, provided by Qatar Development Fund, departed for the city of El Arish in Egypt. This aid is intended for transfer to Gaza and is part of Qatar’s ongoing support for the Palestinian people.

The participation of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in the Cairo Peace Summit yesterday reiterates Qatar’s firm stance in supporting the Palestinian cause and keeping it at the top of the priorities of its international movement.

Since the early days of the Palestinian cause over 70 years ago, this central issue has remained a prominent concern in the hearts and minds of the people of Qatar, including the Amir, the government, and the citizens. Qatar has supported it on all international platforms, using all means and resources, making it a top priority for the state. Qatar has dedicated political, financial, and moral support to the Palestinian people, driven by steadfast principles, ethical values, and human values.

Qatar has shouldered the Palestinian cause and their legitimate aspirations, including their right to establish their state on their national land, with its capital, Jerusalem, in every international arena. Qatar has spared no effort in highlighting the justice of the Palestinian issue and the great injustice and oppression suffered by the Palestinian brothers due to the Israeli occupation, which killed them, seized their land, and displaced them across the earth.

In all the speeches of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani before various local, Arab, and international forums and platforms, the Palestinian issue was prominently and forcefully placed at the top of priorities and concerns. In his first speech upon assuming duties in June 2013, His Highness the Amir reaffirmed that Qatar is committed to solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle to attain their legitimate rights, considering it a prerequisite for a just peace, which entails the Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories it occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, and the right of return for refugees.

In his speech at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York in September, the Amir reiterated Qatar’s rejection of the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, stating: “The Palestinian people cannot remain prisoners of Israeli settlement arbitrariness, and the successive Israeli governments have rejected any fair political solution based on international legitimacy principles.”
He emphasised that the international organisation’s failure to take action against the occupation provides Israel with the opportunity to undermine the foundations of the two-state solution through expansion and settlement, to the point where the occupation takes the form of a racist regime in the 21st century.

The Amir renewed Qatar’s commitment to provide political, humanitarian, and developmental support to the Palestinian people, adhering to the initial position of justice in this issue, which has become a test of the credibility of world leaders towards the Middle East.

In May of last year, His Highness the Amir sent a message to the high-level meeting of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, held at the UN headquarters in New York.

The Amir stated: “After seven and a half decades since the Nakba, we renew our confidence in the justice of the Palestinian cause and salute the brave resilience of the Palestinian people in their quest for all their rights. We emphasise Qatar’s consistent stance on the necessity of achieving a comprehensive, just, and lasting settlement for the Palestinian issue based on international law and UN resolutions, ending the Israeli occupation, and achieving a two-state solution, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with its sovereignty, based on the 1967 borders and its capital, East Jerusalem, granting all the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, in accordance with the relevant Security Council resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.”

In his speech during the 28th Arab League Summit in Jordan in 2017, the Amir reiterated that “Qatar’s steadfast stance on the Palestinian issue is in line with the Arab commitment to establish a comprehensive, just, and permanent peace settlement based on international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative. This initiative is based on the principle of a two-state solution, ensuring the establishment of the Palestinian state along the borders of June 4, 1967, with its capital in East Jerusalem, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and ending the Israeli occupation of all Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan Heights.”

In accordance with the directives of His Highness the Amir, on October 16, a Qatari plane carrying 37 tonnes of food and medical aid, provided by Qatar Development Fund, departed for the city of El Arish in Egypt. This aid is intended for transfer to Gaza and is part of Qatar’s ongoing support for the Palestinian people, demonstrating its full commitment to assisting them during the challenging humanitarian conditions resulting from the Israeli bombardment the Gaza Strip has been facing.

As part of Qatar’s ongoing and strong support for the Pa

lestinian people, a donation of $500mn was provided in May 2021 under the Amir’s directives. This grant was designated for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, specifically focusing on essential infrastructure in the health, education, and electricity sectors, as well as homes that were destroyed due to Israeli attacks.

On March 22, 2020, the Amir provided $150mn over a period of six months in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza. This initiative aimed to continue Qatar’s efforts to alleviate the suffering of our Palestinian brothers and support the relief and humanitarian programs of the UN in Gaza. The support included financial assistance to the residents of the besieged Gaza Strip in their efforts to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

On May 6, 2019, the Amir, directed the allocation of $480mn in support of the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza. On October 10, 2018, His Highness the Amir directed the provision of urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of the besieged Gaza Strip, amounting to $150mn. This contribution aimed to alleviate the worsening humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, which had persisted for years. On February 8, 2018, the Amir, directed the provision of urgent assistance amounting to QR33mn, which included medicines, medical supplies, food items, and fuel for hospital generators in the Gaza Strip. These contributions underscore Qatar’s consistent commitment to providing humanitarian support to the Palestinian people in their time of need.

On December 19, 2017, His Highness the Amir directed the complete exemption of residents of Hamad City in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip from paying monthly instalments for the year 2018.

On January 15, 2017, His Highness the Amir provided an urgent payment of QR43.8mn to address the electricity issue in the Gaza Strip. He also urged international co-operation to study the electricity problem in the region and propose comprehensive solutions.
To alleviate the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza, His Highness directed the provision of QR110mn worth of fuel to operate the power stations in the Gaza Strip in March 2014. In December 2013, he directed the provision of $32mn worth of fuel and sent urgent humanitarian assistance and relief materials totalling $28mn to address the severe weather conditions in the region.

Additionally, Qatar provided a financial grant to support 100,000 vulnerable and impoverished families in the besieged Gaza Strip, providing $100 for each family. Qatar Development Fund signed an agreement with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to support its core resources for the 2021-2022 period with a contribution of $18mn. In addition to the previously mentioned support, Qatar provided comprehensive additional assistance for Palestinian refugees in Syria, covering various sectors including healthcare, education, and economic development, with a total amount of $7mn.

His Highness the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani was the first Arab leader to visit Gaza Strip after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. During his visit, he was welcomed by the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. This visit brought hope to the people of Gaza, as it marked a new beginning and a glimpse of optimism for over 1.7mn citizens who had endured years of Israeli blockade and the devastating Israeli military operation in 2008. This operation caused extensive destruction to both human and physical infrastructure, including homes, mosques, schools, hospitals, civil and military government facilities and infrastructure.

As part of its national role in supporting the Palestinian cause and promoting Arab solidarity, the capital of Qatar, Doha, hosted three Arab summits. One of them was the Doha Emergency Summit held in January 2009, which was named the “Gaza Summit.” During this summit, Arab leaders called for suspending the Arab Peace Initiative, halting all forms of normalization with Israel, and establishing a fund for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Doha Emergency Summit, in its concluding statement, condemned Israel for its aggression on Gaza and demanded an immediate cessation of all forms of aggression and an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The statement also stressed the necessity of immediately and permanently opening the border crossings, and allowing all humanitarian aid to enter and distribute it freely within the Strip.

Qatar’s support for Al-Aqsa Mosque was strong and evident. In 2013, during the Arab Summit held in Doha, Qatar launched an initiative to create a fund named “Support for Jerusalem” with a budget of $1bn. During the Arab Economic Summit held in Kuwait in January 2009, Qatar declared its support for the Gaza Strip with a quarter-billion dollars to participate in the reconstruction of Gaza after the 2008 aggression. In the Cairo conference that took place in October 2014, after the war initiated by Israel on the Gaza Strip that summer, Qatar pledged $1bn for the reconstruction of the region.

Qatar is keen to pay its annual share to support the Palestinian Authority. It also continues to provide a lot of humanitarian aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, through Qatari charitable societies, in addition to its contributions to supporting Palestinian educational institutions. It also received Palestinian teachers to work on its territory, and continued to support UNRWA, to enable it to fulfil its mission of relief and employment for Palestinian refugees in refugee camps.

Qatar also established a residential city to accommodate the victims of the war on Gaza, and a hospital for prosthetic limbs, as part of dozens of service projects and facilities that Qatar provides to the residents of the Strip under the supervision of the Qatar’s Gaza Reconstruction Committee in all medical, humanitarian, services, health, education, housing, agriculture and electricity sectors.

At the level of Palestinian reconciliation, Doha led great efforts to end the division and achieve reconciliation between the Fatah and Hamas movements. On the humanitarian level, Qatar was the first to host fifteen Palestinian prisoners who were liberated as part of a prisoner exchange deal in 2011. They were among 40 prisoners whom Israel stipulated to be deported outside the Palestinian territories, out of a total of 477 who were released.
(QNA)

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Insensitive ads describing maids as ‘good value for money’, ‘affordable’ are back

Current MOM guidelines require that ads do not mention fees or liken maids to merchandise that can be bought and replaced when found unsatisfactory.
 ST PHOTO: CHRISTINE SIOW

Christine Siow

SINGAPORE – They jostle for customers with promises of “good value for money” and “affordable” in notices they place on their shop windows, but the items on sale are not goods.

Instead, three dozen or so maid agencies at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre are peddling migrant workers.

At the adjacent Beauty World Plaza, Hope Recruitment has domestic workers from Myanmar who “are known for their affordability and simplicity”. Those from north-east India are “affordable”.


When contacted later by The Straits Times, the maid agency’s key appointment holder, who wished to be known only as Mr Tan, acknowledged that the statements were disrespectful.

“We recently took ownership of Hope Recruitment in January and were not aware about the marketing information put out by the previous owner. These statements have since been removed,” he added.

Hope Recruitment’s website indicated that helpers from certain countries are “value for money”, “affordable”, or known for their “simplicity”. 
PHOTO: HOPERECRUITMENT.COM.SG

Ms Mechelle Bonagua, a sales executive at Joy Employment Services, which is in Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, said that ads put up by other agencies were worse in the past.


“I’ve worked in this field for 15 years, and back then, maids were really treated like goods. Posters would say maids can be delivered, and their biodata would be put out there for everyone (to) see,” added the 40-year-old Filipina.

There were no advertisements at her agency.

In 2014, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issued an advisory after several maid agencies put up insensitive ads which likened domestic workers to goods.

Among other things, the agencies at Katong Shopping Centre and Bukit Timah Shopping Centre had advertised the domestic workers as “$1 maids” with promises of “fast delivery”.

Shortly after, the agencies removed the ads.

Current MOM guidelines require that ads do not mention fees or liken maids to merchandise that can be bought and replaced when found unsatisfactory.

MOM said agencies should also not advertise maids’ subjective qualities, like obedience and intelligence.

Threatening, controlling behaviour towards maids among main types of emotional abuse: Home report

Some advocates are concerned that marketing material has remained demeaning. They say this could affect how employers treat maids.

A spokesman for the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home) said: “Employers often look to agents to guide them in recruiting domestic helpers, so agents’ attitude towards helpers may inform how employers treat them too.”

She added: “Agents’ behaviour may not be the single determining factor for how employers treat their helpers, but (they) may entrench employers’ beliefs that helpers are not deserving of respect.”

Mr Alvin Puan, 35, co-owner of Iron Maid Employment Agency, said the ads are just a marketing tactic.

“Some people might be offended about words like ‘supply’, but the majority of employers don’t care. These ads are meant to be eye-catching and attractive to employers.”

Ms Mei Tan, the manager of GreatLink Employment Agency, said it will be changing its ad, which says it supplies maids from the Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar.

She said: “It is not our intention to dehumanise or portray our helpers as objects. We will be changing our marketing material’s choice of words as we do not wish to be misunderstood by the public.”

Another common term used in ads is “budget maid”.

GreatLink Employment Agency’s branch at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre displays a large poster indicating that they “supply” domestic helpers.
 ST PHOTO: CHRISTINE SIOW

The manager of a maid agency at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre said the words used in ads could lead to some misunderstanding.

The 59-year-old, who wanted to be known as Madam Tan and has 15 years of experience in the business, said: “Those phrases (like budget) refer to agencies’ placement fees being low, not maids being budget goods. The public might see the ads and think that maids are cheap, but that’s not what agencies mean.”

Assistant Professor Luke Lu, who teaches linguistics and multilingual studies at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), said when people absorb information, they are not just taking in the dictionary meaning.

“We’re also bringing in our social framing based on our experiences,” he added.

“So if you were brought up with the idea that helpers are cheap, and they ought to be treated in a subhuman way, you might interpret these advertisements in a harmful and discriminatory way.”

Associate Professor Laavanya Kathiravelu of NTU’s School of Social Sciences stressed the damaging societal impact that such marketing material has.

“(Maid) agencies often generate harmful stereotypes to advertise, for example, that maids from Myanmar are more docile and less demanding of rights like days off and privacy,” she said, adding that as a result, maids are dehumanised.

Prof Lu said the ads constrain the way people think about maids.

“Instead of thinking of them as human, we think of them as commodities to be traded. Even though advertisements’ choice of words don’t fully determine our attitudes, it’s a good indicator of how people actually view and treat helpers.

“While agencies can say that they are just catering to what their customers want, they are in a position to change perceptions,” he added.

Ms Mei Tan, the manager of GreatLink Employment Agency, said it will be changing its ad, which says it supplies maids from the Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar. 
ST PHOTO: CHRISTINE SIOW


Several maid agencies ST approached said MOM ought to take the lead in setting guidelines.

Said Madam Tan: “(The) MOM controls what we put in our ads. For example, we cannot use “fresh maid” any more.

“I don’t know if the current regulations should be changed. It’s up to them.”

An MOM spokesman said enforcement action may be taken against maid agencies which put up insensitive ads.

He added that insensitive advertisements which cast maids in an undignified, offensive light are unacceptable.

The Home spokesman said that while tighter regulations may deter agencies from advertising maids in an undignified way, it is important to educate them to view domestic workers as equals to their employers.

Still, Prof Lu said increasing regulations may not solve the root issue.

“Top-down regulations on language use may not translate to a change in our attitudes. We should instead have societal conversations about how we treat helpers, and where our values lie.

“Our language use says a lot more about society than about employment agencies, domestic helpers, or employers. In a way, we’re all complicit,” he added.



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Rempang land dispute casts new spotlight on old complaints over Chinese investments in Indonesia

Women on their neighbourhood watch to stop outsiders from entering their village in Pasir Merah. 

Arlina Arshad
Indonesia Bureau Chief
OCT 22, 2023

REMPANG, Indonesia – For more than a month now, feisty housewives have been forming human roadblocks to screen unfamiliar vehicles and strangers entering the fishing village of Pasir Merah on Indonesia’s Rempang Island, just an hour by ferry from Singapore.

“Who are you? Where do you want to go? Who do you want to meet?” they take turns to ask, as they inspect car boots and scrutinise identity cards.

“Real journalist, not a spy,” one of them yelled to more than a dozen middle-aged women clad in Muslim headscarves and faded housedresses, who were resting in a wooden shelter, as she gave this reporter a welcoming nod.

“Orang Melayu,” she added. A Malay person – warranting more trust.

The women said they have been on high alert after violent clashes between residents from the surrounding Malay villages and the local authorities over two days in September. Even the police and the military were mobilised after villagers were ordered to move out by Sept 28 to make way for a multibillion-dollar China-funded investment project.

“Without prior notice, they suddenly demanded that we abandon our houses, farms, livelihoods and land, and whatever we and our ancestors have built for hundreds of years. Who wouldn’t be shocked and stressed?” food stall owner Siti Hawa, 70, told The Straits Times.

Officials with bags of rice knocked on their doors, she said. “Do they really think they could buy us out with rice? We returned everything. But now, we are scared they would forcefully evict us, so we stand guard here every day.”

The US$11.5 billion project (S$15.8 billion), known as Rempang Eco-City, was signed off by President Joko Widodo when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in late July.

The project was designated a “National Strategic Project”, which means it falls directly under the President’s purview and is so nationally important that the authorities could seize land for its development.

The authorities’ offers of relocation and compensation have largely been rejected by the residents, whose villages are sited on 7,000ha of non-forested land that has been designated as a new special industrial zone.

Food stall owner Siti Hawa, 70 (right) on the neighbourhood watch to stop outsiders from entering their village. 


The industrial site will house facilities such as a glass and solar panel factory run by the world’s largest solar panel producer, China’s Xinyi Group. Rempang’s remaining 10,000ha will be retained as natural forest for now.

Local investment and development authority BP Batam will jointly develop the project with private Indonesian company Makmur Elok Graha, a subsidiary of the Artha Graha Group owned by Indonesian tycoon Tomy Winata.

Rempang is connected by bridges to the more urban and industrialised Batam Island in the north, and remote Galang Island in the south. Together with smaller surrounding islands, they make up the Batam municipality.



‘Malays will perish’

On Sept 11, chants of “Hidup Melayu”, or “Long Live Malays”, reverberated as demonstrators protested outside the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority (BP Batam) on Batam Island. They hurled bottles, rocks and Molotov cocktails, and the military and police countered with tear gas.

Fisherman Rusli, 50, said it was the first protest by Rempang’s Malay community. “We are peace-loving, easy-going people who prefer to talk things out to settle problems. But the authorities have pushed us into a corner.

“We are not fighting, but simply defending our ancestral land. No amount of money will entice me to leave. My home is priceless.”

Some Rempang residents said they had received the short end of the stick, without prior consultation and proper compensation. The heavy-handed way the relocation issue was dealt with has bred mistrust and prejudice towards Chinese investors even before they set foot on the island.

“It’s bad enough that they did not build proper houses for us to move to, but it’s worse that they did not ask if we would welcome such a project,” said Mr Gerisman Ahmad, a village elder from Pantai Melayu village.

A fisherman returns from a day of fishing in Pasir Merah. 

The 65-year-old also believed there was no need for the villages to be destroyed, saying: “The project is inland, and we are near the sea. How are we disturbing their operations?”

For some, such as 80-year-old housewife Halimah, it was a sign of worse things to come.

“They will pollute the air, and take away our sand (to make glass). Hundreds will come at the same time, and there are so few of us here so they may overpower us... I’m just scared.”

After the clashes, Mr Widodo said the project “was not well communicated to the people”, and promised residents they would be compensated with land and houses for relocation.

Professor Leo Suryadinata, a visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, said the Malay population affected believes that the Chinese had collaborated with the central and local governments to carry out a project at their expense.

“The protests were not merely against the mainland Chinese and local Chinese, but also both central and local governments that consist of pribumi (native) Indonesians but who are non-Malays,” he said.

Indonesia targets $66b in foreign investment for 2023, up 7.5% from 2022

The central government has denied the allegation.

Mr Timboel Siregar, secretary-general of the Indonesian Workers Organisation (Opsi), said: “Residents who have lived there for generations were made to feel like objects that could be pushed around, while the brightest red carpet was being laid out for the foreign investor.”

Rempang residents told ST that the issue was not simply about compensation, but also about defending Malay traditions and identity.

According to the country’s 2010 census, eight million Malays live in Indonesia, and they are concentrated in the eastern and southern parts of Sumatra, the coastal areas of Kalimantan, and the Riau Islands where Rempang is located. That makes them a minority in a country of 280 million people where Javanese comprise the largest ethnic group.

As natives of Rempang, also known as Putera Daerah (sons of the soil), the Malays, as well as the Orang Laut and Orang Darat tribes, are believed to have inhabited the island since the 1800s. At present, some 7,500 of them dwell in over a dozen coastal villages and make a living from fishing and growing chillies, bitter gourd and other crops. Unfortunately, they have no certificates to prove they own the land.

“When our villages are destroyed, we will be nothing but scavengers with no identity. Malays will perish,” said Madam Hawa.

Mr Gerisman said: “It will be a sad day when our grandchildren and great-grandchildren ask about their Malay identity, and all we can offer are stories, and not a real place they can visit or a house they can live in.

“How am I supposed to answer if they ask, ‘Grandpa, when people were taking away our land, did you just stay quiet and do nothing?’”

Rempang village elder Gerisman Ahmad, 65 at his home at the seaside village of Pantai Melayu, Rempang. 


Preferential treatment for Chinese workers

The Rempang case has cast a spotlight on Chinese investments in Indonesia, surfacing some longstanding complaints – from local communities’ interests being elbowed aside, to industrial issues such as poor working conditions and unequal treatment of Indonesian workers, say workers’ rights groups.

Rempang residents are also concerned about an influx of Chinese workers landing in the area.

Opsi’s Mr Timboel said locals in other parts of Indonesia have complained that Chinese workers receive higher salaries and better lodging. Chinese workers are also perceived to be taking jobs away from locals, as Chinese firms fly in hundreds of low-skilled manpower to work in projects including in nickel mines in Sulawesi at the centre of the archipelago of Indonesia.

“These are not workers with special expertise, so those jobs could well be done by Indonesians too. The Chinese workers are also less keen to assimilate to local culture like learning to speak the Indonesian language. All the discontent has led to jealousy and deadly protests,” he said.

It is not known how much worse the situation at Chinese companies is, compared with other foreign firms. But they have attracted more attention due to the disproportionate share of foreign investments that the Chinese account for.

A high-profile case took place on Jan 14 this year, when a clash between Indonesian and Chinese labourers left a worker dead from each side at a nickel smelter run by Gunbuster Nickel Industry Smelter Company. The fight at the factory in Morowali, in Central Sulawesi, was purportedly over working conditions and salary.

After the protest, Indonesian Cabinet ministers vowed to take all necessary measures to prevent such incidents from happening again.

A Feb 17 report by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute said the Morowali incident brought into focus the issues of unconducive working environments and poor treatment of local workers in some Chinese-invested projects in Indonesia.

“Three factors underlie the escalation of labour discontent into violent conflict: Ethnic and cultural differences, poor governance in labour relations, and the role of external actors in using the situation to undermine the government’s policy,” it said.

The report also urged the Indonesian authorities to carefully manage the issue of migrant workers and balance national policy goals with local communities’ interests, and to pay attention to some cultural and political factors that have complicated industrial relations in some Chinese-managed companies in Indonesia.

Anger among locals was also stirred in June 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the Indonesian government allowed 156 Chinese workers to fly to Indonesia to work for a Chinese nickel firm in south-east Sulawesi, when many Indonesians had lost jobs due to the lockdown.

China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner and second-largest investor, with US$3.2 billion of investments and trade volume reaching US$124.3 billion in 2022. Official figures put the number of Chinese workers in Indonesia in 2022 at more than 42,000, or around 44 per cent of all foreign workers.

Mr Timboel acknowledged that Chinese investments are valuable and not all Chinese companies are bad, but said the government must enforce labour regulations to review the salaries of locals to reduce future industrial conflicts.

An editorial in The Jakarta Post on Jan 18 said the rise of Chinese investors, especially in labour-intensive projects, has often triggered suspicion and even protests from the public because some investment agreements preclude locals from filling the jobs generated.

It urged Chinese companies to provide training and knowledge about Indonesian culture and employment systems to their workers, including a basic Indonesian language course. It also called on the government and Indonesian business partners to help local workers learn more about Chinese companies, including their corporate culture.

“The lack of knowledge and willingness to understand the host better happened in the past, when labour-intensive manufacturers from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan arrived here decades ago. Initially, resistance from local people and administrations was rife, but was solved after mutual understanding and trust were reached,” said the report.

There are fears of a spillover effect in Indonesia, where there has been a history of ethnic tensions, but Rempang residents and human rights groups say there is no cause for worry.

As far as the Rempang case is concerned, the anger is directed at the parties managing the Chinese project, not Chinese Indonesians.

“Chinese Indonesians are part of Indonesia, part of us. We have been living together for many years. They have nothing to do with Eco-City,” said Madam Halimah.

Mr Hendardi, chairman of rights group Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, also noted that the Chinese Indonesian community in Rempang is relatively small, and has lived there for many generations.

“The government will unlikely cancel the project, so what’s pressing is transparency on how the land will be used,” he said.
Softer approach

A new date for relocation has yet to be set, but the Indonesian government has agreed on a gentler approach to resolve the conflict.

Mr Widodo has sent several ministers to Batam to conduct a dialogue with the Malays and reach an agreement. They include Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia, who is also head of the Investment Coordinating Board, Home Minister Tito Karnavian, and Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Hadi Tjahjanto.

“Handling the Rempang (project) must be done in a kinder, softer way that also respects the locals who have lived there for generations,” Mr Bahlil said.

Mr Gerisman, who was involved in the dialogue, said the government is offering each resident compensation for a house valued at 120 million rupiah (S$10,400) and ​​500 sq m of land.

Rempang residents are also concerned about an influx of Chinese workers landing in the area. 


The government will also exempt residents from home rental costs during the construction of their new houses, as well as financial support.

Only a handful of Rempang residents have accepted the offer.

“It’s too late to try and negotiate with us now, nasi sudah menjadi bubur,” said Madam Hawa, panning the situation as beyond remedy as “the rice has turned to porridge”.

“We are deeply hurt and we shall not leave.”

ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

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Powerful NYC principals’ union to get 16.7% pay increase in new 5-year pact: Adams
NY Post
Published Oct. 21, 2023, 

The city’s powerful principals’ union has secured a lucrative new contract that is expected raise members’ salaries over the next five years by nearly 17%.

Mayor Adams announced the tentative agreement with the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators – which represents 6,400 principals, assistant principals, supervisors and education administrators — while speaking at the union’s annual leadership conference Saturday at the New York Hilton Midtown.

The package – which is retroactive to Jan. 29 and runs through March 29, 2028 – includes yearly raises ranging from 3% to 3.5% that total 16.77% when compounded over the length of the agreement.

It also provides other sweeteners, including ratification bonuses of $3,000 to all members.

The city has already budgeted $500 million to cover the deal through mid-2027, officials said.

It’s not immediately clear what the total cost will be to cover the entire contract.

“This administration will always stand with working people,” said Adams.

The city’s powerful principals’ union has secured a lucrative new contract that is expected to raise members’ salaries over the next five years by nearly 17%.
Mayor Eric Adams announced the tentative agreement with the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators – which represents 6,400 principals, assistant principals, supervisors and education administrators — while speaking at the union’s annual leadership conference Saturday at the New York Hilton Midtown.
The package – which is retroactive to Jan. 29 and runs through March 29, 2028 – includes yearly raises ranging from 3% to 3.5% that total 16.77% when compounded over the length of the agreement.
PHOTOS Kevin C. Downs for NY Post

“I know how hard our educators work on behalf of all New Yorkers, and we are going to make sure our union members get the wages, rights, and respect they deserve.”

The deal still falls short of the fat pay hikes and bonuses that members of the United Federation of Teachers secured from Adams in June.

That $6.4 billion labor contract will increase teacher salaries over the next five years by up to 20%

The agreement must still be ratified by CSA members.
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