Malaysian unions asked to call off planned protest

Malaysian unions asked to call off planned protest

KUALA LUMPUR (Agencies): Top Malaysian government officials
are negotiating with union leaders to try to defuse plans for a
massive picket during a meeting of Southeast Asian labor
ministers.

Separately, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad issued a Labor Day
address that urged workers to make common cause with his
government against those who would use globalization to suppress
poor countries.

Mahathir, who blamed foreign speculators for causing the 1997-
98 Asian economic crisis, said that the world had seen "how the
freedom given to buy and sell currencies has caused millions of
workers to be jobless and become poor again."

The negotiations and Mahathir's speech come at a time that the
government is facing its biggest challenges in years from
organized labor.

Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn held separate meetings
Monday with union leaders and executives of Malaysia's retirement
fund, which is the target of government-bailout claims.

The Malaysian Trade Union Congress, which represents more than
1 million workers, is planning a huge demonstration outside the
Employees Provident Fund's offices on May 12 to protest what it
alleges are bailouts of well-connected tycoons.

The union body claims it could attract 10,000 people to the
rally, which would coincide with a meeting of labor ministers
from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, plus Japan,
South Korea and China.

Fong said he would meet union officials again on Thursday,
when he expected to reach an agreement which would result in the
rally being called off.

"There is a strong sense of goodwill on the part of MTUC and I
am sure we can work this out," Fong told a news conference.

Union congress President Zainal Rampak said Thursday's meeting
would be "crucial" in deciding whether the picket would go ahead.
"Yes, there is goodwill, but there must also be solutions to the
problems which we have raised," he told The Associated Press.

Unions and opposition parties have slammed the retirement
fund's purchase at above the market price of more than 70 million
shares in the telecommunications Time dotCom Bhd. after the
company tanked at its initial public offering, which was only 25
percent subscribed.

In a new development, a coalition of opposition, human rights
groups and unions on Monday launched a nationwide campaign to
lobby for the release of ten Malaysian anti-government activists
who are being detained without trial under a tough security law.

The new group said it would organize protests and urge people
to write to the United Nations asking it to pressure Mahathir to
release the prisoners and repeal the law.

The ten activists, including eight prominent members of the
opposition National Justice Party, were arrested during April
under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows authorities
to imprison people indefinitely without trial.

Authorities have accused nine of them detainees of planning
militant protests to overthrow Mahathir's government. The
opposition dismisses the allegations as lies and accuse Mahathir,
who has ruled Malaysia for almost 20 years, of using the act to
suppress political dissent.

In Bangkok, Thai human rights activists gathered outside the
Malaysian embassy to Bangkok on Monday to protest the recent
arrest of Badaruddin Ismail and other government critics in
Malaysia over the past two weeks.

Ismail, a member of Malaysia's human rights organization
Suaram, was arrested on April 26 under the ISA , a law enacted in
1960.

A dozen members of Forum-Asia, a Bangkok-based human rights
groups, picketed outside the Malaysian embassy. They handed over
a protest letter to the Malaysian embassy's third secretary, and
waved posters saying "Abolish Internal Security Act," and "Stop
the arrests of Malaysian human rights activists."