While illegal workers-including thousands of Indonesians and Filipinos-flow out of Malaysia, Vietnam has offered to provide up to 200,000 workers to meet the country's growing demands for inexpensive labor, according to a story by Wani Muthia in The Star. The offer was presented to Malaysia's Human Resources Minister, Datuk Dr. Fong Chan Onn by Vietnam's Labor Minister Nguyen Thi Hang.
Dr. Fong said the Vietnamese had agreed to this and both countries were now at the draft agreement stage of the process. When asked if the increase in Vietnamese workers meant that labor from Indonesia would be phased out gradually, Dr. Fong said Malaysia would continue taking in Indonesians, as it wanted to be on good terms with the neighboring country.
“Indonesia must understand that we allowed about 1 million of their nationals to work in our country and send home money, which was good for their economy. But we don't want illegal immigrants and we hope the Indonesian government will understand this,'' he added.
South Korea Helping Feed North Korea
The Korea Herald reports that the South Korean Federation of Trade Unions (KCTU), one of the country's largest umbrella organizations for labor groups, will undertake a campaign to send surplus rice to North Korea.
The rice drive is a win-win project for North Koreans beset by a long-standing famine, as well as South Korean farmers who are worried about falling rice prices, the official added. North Korea is widely known to suffer serious food shortages due to agricultural mismanagement and years of natural disaster, while South Korea has an oversupply of rice.
"It's a tragedy and an international disgrace that the South Korean government has decided to use surplus rice to feed livestock while people in the North are starving," the official said.
Philippines Death Penalties Delayed
The Philippine Star reports that President Arroyo has delayed the execution of three convicted rapists for 90 days while the legislature considers abolishing the country's death penalty.
Mrs. Arroyo, who is under pressure from anti-crime groups, ordered a reprieve just 48 hours before one of the three was to be executed by lethal injection.
“Tears rolled down his face when I went to death row this morning and told him, ‘Rolly, President Arroyo has postponed your execution'," Bureau of Corrections Director Ricardo Macala told Reuters, referring to 43-year-old rapist Rolando Pagdayawon. Pagdayawon, convicted of raping his 9-year-old stepdaughter, would have been the first convict executed in the country in two years.
The Philippines executed seven convicts in 1999 following the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1994. A total of 1,010 convicts are currently on death row. Twenty-nine of them are women. The Bureau of Corrections earlier said there were 18 people scheduled for execution this year.
Congress is debating a bill calling for the abolition of the death penalty on the grounds that it does not deter crime and that many of those sentenced to death were poor, illiterate people who could not afford a good lawyer.
Vietnam Adoption Crackdown
An article in Vietnam's Nhân Dân announced a government decision to prevent foreigners from adopting children directly from Vietnamese families beginning in January 2002.
Deputy head of the Justice Ministry's Department for Verification of Notaries, Civil Statutes, Nationality, and Legal Records, Nguyen Quoc Cuong, said the new decree will only permit foreigners to adopt Vietnamese children from orphanages or designated agencies. However, overseas Vietnamese who want to adopt members of their families will still be allowed, Mr. Cuong said.
Mr. Cuong said the new procedures would put a stop to the number of illegal companies profiting from adoptions and the decree includes severe penalties for people who try to bypass the procedures.
Families of adopted children will also benefit under the bilateral agreements, Mr. Cuong said, "as they will be kept informed about the children after they leave Vietnam."
Singapore Sewage Now A Drink
Singapore has introduced drinking water recycled from sewage into local schools, according to a report by Jane Lee in The Strait's Times.
It was a morning assembly with a difference at Hua Yi Secondary School yesterday as more than 1,000 students and teachers drank a toast with Newater. Led by the principal, Mrs. Kong-Tan Yen Fong, they took swigs of the recycled water. Some students made faces after the first gulp, while others challenged one another to see who could empty the bottle faster.
Most said it was tasteless, adding that they would prefer tap water any time. Marcus Huang, 15, even described it as having a "stale taste."
Zahidah Noor Mohamed, 15, refused to take even a sip, saying: "It's processed from sewage water and I just don't feel it's safe to drink."
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