China workers cry foul

By Melissa Sim

More than 100 workers from China were at the Manpower Ministry yesterday to lodge complaints against their bosses for not paying them on time. At least four such incidents involving foreign workers occurred last month. -- ST PHOTO: SAMUEL HE

OVER 100 construction workers from China thronged the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) yesterday, claiming they had not been paid their salaries.

They form the latest group of foreign workers turning to the authorities for help, with the economic downturn biting. At least four such incidents involving about 400 workers cropped up last month.

The workers' complaints have been similar - that they are unpaid, unfed, have little hope of finding work and, in some cases, poorly housed, if at all.

Labour MP Halimah Yacob told The Straits Times that both foreigners and locals will be hit by the economic slowdown. She stressed that foreign workers 'should be paid their salaries and other benefits due to them'.

'They should not be exploited just because they are foreigners,' she said, following the abandonment of 180 workers by their sub-contractor two weeks ago.

Yesterday's case involving the China workers surfaced because, following MOM's intervention on Tuesday, the workers were still unhappy with their two employers' offer.

About 200 workers first approached MOM for help on Tuesday, saying they had each been given allowances of $200 a month in their first three months here, with their first full salaries paid only in the fourth month. Most said they have not been paid at all since September.

They were also unhappy that Zhonghe Huaxing Development and China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction had unilaterally slashed their net salaries from about $700 a month to about $400 starting last month.

After MOM intervened on Tuesday, the employers agreed to bank September's salaries and pay the rest of the money by Chinese New Year.

Yesterday, the workers were back at the ministry because, they said, they had not received their September pay and did not want to wait until Chinese New Year for the rest of what was owed to them.

An MOM spokesman said some of the workers have returned to work, but others still had additional issues to raise with the ministry. MOM, which said it was looking into the matter, was unable to give further details.

Straits Times

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Prominent Monk, Others Receive Lengthy Prison Sentences

By MIN LWIN
Mizzima News
November 18, 2008

Ashin Gambira, one of the organizers of a monk-led uprising that captured international headlines last year, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on Tuesday by a special court convened behind closed doors at Rangoon’s Insein Prison.

A source close to the leading dissident monk said that the sentence did not include all of the charges against him, and would likely be much longer once the court reaches a final decision on the remaining charges.

“His case hasn’t been closed yet,” the source said. “There are still other charges being brought against him.”

The 29-year-old monk, who helped spearhead peaceful protests by thousands of Buddhist monks last September, was charged with violating a number of laws generally having to do with threatening the stability of the state.

These include Section 505 A and B of the State Offence Act, Section 13/1 of the Immigration Act, Section 17/1 of the Illegal Organization Act, Section 303 A of the Electronic Act and Section 6 of the Organization Act.

Intelligence agents arrested Ashin Gambira along with his father last November while he was hiding in Sintgaing Township, Mandalay Division. The authorities later forcibly disrobed him without consulting with the Buddhist monastic community, which alone has the authority to expel monks.

Ashin Gambira co-founded the All Burmese Monks’ Alliance, which led last year’s massive protests in Rangoon and other cities. The subsequent crackdown by the military claimed at least 31 lives, according to human rights groups, while thousands of monks and civilians were arrested and detained.

Besides Ashin Gambira, at least four other people received lengthy sentences today for their involvement in the protests, including fellow monk U Kaylar Tha from Mandalay Township, who was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment by the Kyimyindaing Township special court in Insein prison.

U Kaylar Tha was charged with violating Section 505 B of the State Offence Act, Section 13/1 of the Immigration Act, Section 17/2 of the Illegal Organization Act and Section 6 of the Organization Act.

Three ethnic activists were also sentenced today in connection with the monk-led protests. Ethnic Arakanese protester Tin Htoo Aung and Chin activist Kam Lat Hkoat were sentenced to 33 years imprisonment each, while another Chin activist, Kat Hkant Kwal, was given an eight-year sentence.

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