A report on Facebook and Twitter dropping RSS:
People have been speculating, “RSS is dead” for some time now. I’ve written that RSS isn’t dead, but the concept of “subscribing” is. However, as more and more sites move away from RSS, quite literally, in favor of these proprietary APIs I fear RSS could in fact be dying, not only as a subscription interface, but as a protocol in general.
Simon Fujiwara: Censored at the Singapore Biennale 2011
Of interest to the gay community team?
But just when we thought Singapore art institutions had become truly gay-friendly, Fujiwara mailed me with this news: his work’s been censored. All the erotica’s been removed, rendering it, in his words, “meaningless, almost a tribute to Franco in the end”.
The museum staff didn’t even consult him or seek his permission to alter the piece – they simply altered it without his consent. What’s even more disturbing is that the changes were made only a week or two after the Biennale opened. Foreign arts journalists were thus given a view of a wonderfully liberal Singaporean arts scene, whereas us Singaporean viewers had that old, familiar conservative nanny-state treatment.
This is the published version of the story.
To Die For:
Calls for a `Holy War’
Entice Indonesia’s Youth
By Jeremy Wagstaff
04/01/99
The Asian Wall Street Journal
Page 1
(Copyright (c) 1999, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
JAKARTA — For a view of the tensions threatening to widen Indonesia’s religious and ethnic divide, drop by the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom.
Here inside a colonial-style bungalow, eager young men are lining up to join in what one flyer describes as a jihad, or holy war, to defend Islam. The only people wanted are those "willing to die for their religion," recruitment literature says.
It’s a message that has quickly struck a chord among young Muslim men here, many of whom are idled by unemployment, embittered by a feeling that Muslims are getting shortchanged in today’s Indonesia, and annoyed with mainstream Islamic leaders they consider too wimpy. "We got 600 applicants in two days, and that’s just in one office," says the movement’s chairman, Darwin (who like many Indonesians uses only one name).
His group was founded only a few weeks ago, in loose association with one of many nascent Muslim political parties. Other parties and groups have already followed suit.
If the term holy war sounds like a fearful escalation in Indonesia, make no mistake, the nation has already descended into small-scale, efficient religious killing. In the past two months on the spice island of Ambon, at least 180 people have died in clashes between Christian and Muslim street mobs. But those battles have no discernible organization behind them; Mr. Darwin’s organization, and others it has spawned, represent a troubling move toward formalized religious vigilantism.
The group behind the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom, the Islamic Youth Movement, denies it is preparing for outright aggression. This is "not for revenge, but to maintain our pride and honor," says Mr. Darwin, the organizer. He says he envisages a disciplined Islamic corps with skills in first aid, teaching and self defense.
But that’s not the message received by Suhendi, a 23-year-old unemployed bellboy queuing up out front to be interviewed. Tall, bright-eyed and articulate, he knows exactly why he wants to join. "Since getting the sack last month, I’ve had a chance to read more about Ambon," he says. "I must defend my religion. And if I die, I can go to heaven — it’s simple."
This is a phenomenon with complex roots. For decades, racial tensions were kept in check by the iron hand of former President Suharto’s rule. Overtly religious political parties were long illegal, but now they are scrambling to build a following, using sometimes heated rhetoric. Add to the mix Indonesia’s newfound press freedom, which has generated dozens of magazines and newspapers, many of which disregard the boundary between fact and rumor. In the midst of economic crisis, unemployment has surged; conservative figures estimate 12% of the work force is without a proper job.
In terms of sheer numbers, it’s hard to imagine why Indonesia’s Muslims would feel threatened. As a national group they represent the world’s largest Islamic community, accounting for around 80% of Indonesia’s 210 million people. Their roots here are deep. Muslims have lived in Indonesia for roughly 1,000 years, with the earliest arrivals most likely traders of spices and textiles from the Arab world. By the 16th century, Islam was deeply entrenched among many of the archipelago’s main ethnic groups.
In addition, Indonesian Muslims generally count themselves among the world’s most moderate. Many Muslims freely drink and smoke, to the extent that Indonesia is one of the world’s largest consumers of cigarettes. Women are more likely to be seen wearing short skirts than a jilbab, or veil. The term jihad — which strictly speaking need not carry the connotation of armed conflict, referring instead to an inner or spiritual struggle — is so rarely used as to be startling to Muslims here.
Yet it has come into play before. In 1965, some Islamic leaders considered a wider pogrom against suspected communists to be a jihad: Some 500,000 people died in months of slaughter. That violence, by eliminating a communist power center in Indonesia, was catalyst for the rise to power of President Suharto that same year. (Amid economic and social crisis, he was forced to resign in May 1998.)
The deaths in Ambon and elsewhere notwithstanding, few academics foresee a repeat on that scale. "There are some areas of disagreement between religions in Indonesia," says Arbi Sanit, a political scientist at the University of Indonesia, referring to sporadic violence. However, "I don’t think there are enough extremists to make this kind of movement strong enough."
Still, more recent history has left bitter aftertaste for many Muslims. Following his dramatic rise to power, President Suharto immediately clamped down on the role of religion in politics. Any further whiff of Islamic radicalism was quickly squashed, including a 1984 protest by Muslims sparked by allegations that soldiers had entered a mosque without removing their boots; several hundred people were shot dead by security forces.
In the final eight years of his rule, President Suharto switched tack, wooing Islamic support to bolster his own position. But even with Mr. Suharto gone, the memory of incidents such as the 1984 killings, and army excesses in the Muslim province of Aceh where mass graves of alleged separatists were dug up late last year, have persuaded many radicals there’s still an official campaign to corral and denigrate Islam.
Still, that has been the minority view, but it may be changing. Before Mr. Suhendi, the unemployed bellboy, lost his job last month, he wasn’t much of a Muslim. "I’d skip prayers, and brawl," he recalls. Now he’s got time on his hands to read the papers and listen to Friday sermons, and he’s mad. "My religion is under attack. If I don’t fight back, who will?" he says.
Feeding this defiance are some disturbing theories. Mr. Darwin believes that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, Israel and overseas Chinese are plotting against Islam in Indonesia. "A leaf does not fall from a tree unless the Jews want it to," says Mr. Darwin.
Mr. Darwin’s conspiracy theories, broadly speaking, are echoed by leaders of similar movements. They have spread through the ranks via lectures, magazine articles and Western films. Mr. Darwin recommends that all staff members at the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom view the Hollywood movie "Enemy of the State," in which a lawyer is hounded by government spies equipped with high-tech surveillance gadgetry. "This is how war is fought now," he says. "The only difference is they use high-tech machines, and we use knives."
Despite his views, Mr. Darwin doesn’t present the image of a wild-eyed fanatic. For years he worked as a shipping agent and he still does some export-import business. Dressed in a sport shirt and casual slacks, he professes tolerance of views that differ from his own. His sister, he says indulgently, "is a socialist. That’s fine by me."
Other would-be Islamic militia leaders hold down respectable jobs, like Hamdan Zoelva, a corporate lawyer who specializes in banking cases. Wearing a tan business suit in his wood-trimmed Jakarta office, the father of two says, "Law I consider as a job. Social work is my hobby."
Social work, in this case, means recruiting his own band of what he calls jihad "warriors." In the first two weeks, 15,000 volunteers signed up, he says. So far only a handful of medics have been sent into the field. "It was a way to pressure the government into doing something about Ambon," he says. "But we’re keeping it active in case anything else unexpected happens." He also describes a conspiracy theory against Islam in Indonesia, tying together the Israeli spy agency Mossad, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and financier George Soros.
The leaders of such groups stress that they aren’t trying to create armed bands of irreligious thugs, emphasizing that recruits are as likely to help rebuild a school as join a Muslim barricade. Inside the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom, one such potential recruit, 19-year-old student Fedri, is being interviewed. First he is grilled about how good a Muslim he is; next, his skills at chanting the call-to-prayer is gauged. "I’m not very impressed with your Muslim activities," the interviewer concludes. The dark-eyed youth, clutching a small backpack, shifts nervously. "I realize now I must study more about my religion," he offers.
Next, Mr. Fedri is led to another stage of his tryout: a room where two men attack him with punches, slaps and kicks. Mr. Fedri fights back vigorously and manages to stay on his feet. Other recruits don’t perform so well; one youth who follows Mr. Fedri ends up on the floor. "We’re looking for fighters," Mr. Darwin explains.
Behind this fighting spirit is growing disillusionment with anything else on offer. Youths like Mr. Suhendi are dismissive of the main party leaders, some of whom also head Indonesia’s more traditional Islamic organizations. "Gus Dur is a hypocrite, Amien Rais talks too much, and Megawati doesn’t say enough and has no program," Mr. Suhendi says of the three leading opposition leaders.
The mood is further soured by Friday sermons delivered by fiery preachers railing against the plight of Muslims. In one typical sermon recently, a preacher enflamed his congregation by reciting the story — possibly apocryphal — of a pregnant Muslim in Ambon whose unborn child was torn from her womb.
At the mainstream Council of Islamic Scholars — an umbrella group that includes all official Muslim organizations — officials fret but say there isn’t much they can do. One, Foreign Affairs Coordinator Isa Anshary, wrote an article for a major daily last month that attempted to define the word jihad in a way that tempered recent calls for an armed defense of Islam.
Officials privately say they also regularly receive abusive phone calls from people demanding the council declare a religious war on Christian Ambonese. "Last week I had more than 1,000 young men banging on my door demanding an immediate jihad, one official says. I tried to calm them down by inviting the leaders in for tea. I think I persuaded them not to head for Ambon."
Part of the problem is theological: Any Muslim can declare a jihad, which in turn can be considered as much a personal struggle as a communal one. This provides an opening for anyone to set up a movement of his own and start recruiting followers.
Which is precisely what Al-Habib M. Rizieq bin Hussein Syihab did last summer. Infuriated by the breakdown in law and order, the graduate of King Saud University in Riyadh set up the Islam Defenders’ Front in his Jakarta living room. So far, he says, he has 16 million followers and one million trained warriors ready to defend the faith — figures which are impossible to verify. Although he set up his organization last August, membership has shot up since Ambon, he says. "The spirit of the youth is growing."
Such movements raise troubling questions — not least of which is whether individuals like Mr. Habib can control their corps of followers, no matter what the head count. Indeed, there are already signs that this isn’t the case. Last November, some 300 followers of Mr. Habib intervened in a mass brawl between the Muslim residents of Ketapang, a north Jakarta district, and some 400 Christian men guarding a nearby gambling hall. The Christians were quickly outnumbered, and some were butchered in the streets and alleyways by Muslim mobs angered by rumors that a small mosque had been burned. (In actuality, a motorbike was burned in front of the mosque, and some mosque windows smashed.)
Mr. Habib denies subsequent media reports that he orchestrated the violence, and says his men weren’t among the killers. But he defends his right to intervene, even if the presence of his men encouraged the killings. "As a Muslim community, we reacted. The mosque is a sacred symbol. Once it has been touched, Muslims have a responsibility to defend it."
It wasn’t an auspicious start for Muslim vigilantism. And few see the presence of such groups helping stabilize Indonesia’s racial and religious disorder ahead of June’s elections. Says Sidney Jones, executive director of Human Rights Watch: "A lot of people are starting to use communal violence for political ends. It’s going to cause great divisions."
—
Special correspondent Rin Hindryiati contributed to this article.
This is my revised version in response to the editor’s requests.
Jesse — here it is back to you — with a few fact-holes to save time (I’ll add them to the next redeback). It’s now pruned to around 30 inches, according to my counter. j
HOLYWAR
By Jeremy Wagstaff w/tagline to special correspondent Rin Hindryiati
JAKARTA — To grasp the tensions sharpening Indonesia’s religious and ethnic divides, visit the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom.
Here at this colonial-age bungalow, young men are lining up to join what one flyer calls a “holy war to defend Islam”. Founded in Mid-March in loose association with one of many nascent Muslim political parties, it is striking a chord among young men idled by unemployment, embittered by a feeling that Muslims are getting shortchanged in today’s Indonesia, and annoyed with mainstream Islamic leaders they consider too wimpy. "We got 600 applicants in two days, and that’s just in one office," says the movement’s chairman, Darwin (who like many Indonesians uses only one name). Other Muslim parties have already followed suit.
If the term holy war sounds like a fearful escalation, make no mistake, Indonesia has already descended into small-scale, efficient religious killing. In the past two months on the spice island of Ambon, more than 180 people have died in clashes between Christian and Muslim street mobs. But those battles have no apparent apparatus behind them; the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom represents a troubling move toward formalized, religious vigilantism.
It’s happening against a complex backdrop. For decades, Indonesia’s racial tensions were kept in check by the iron hand of former president Suharto’s rule — a control that’s now gone. Overtly religious political parties, long illegal, are scrambling to build a following with sometimes heated rhetoric. Unemployment is surging — conservative figures estimate 17% of the workforce is without a proper job. On top of that: newfound press freedom has spawned nearly 700 new magazines and newspapers — and a blurry boundary between fact and rumor.
The group behind this one recruitment center, the Islamic Youth Movement, denies it is preparing for outright aggression. This is “not for revenge, but to maintain our pride and honor,” says Mr. Darwin, the organizer. He says he envisages a disciplined Islamic corps with skills in first aid, teaching, and self-defense.
That’s not the message received by Suhendi, a 23-year-old unemployed bellboy queuing up to be interviewed. Tall, bright-eyed and articulate, he knows exactly why he wants to join. “Since getting the sack earlier this month, I’ve had a chance to read more about Ambon,” he says. “I must defend my religion. And if I die, I can go to heaven — it’s simple.”
In terms of numbers, it’s hard to imagine why Muslims would feel threatened. Accounting for around 80% of Indonesia’s 210 million people, they represent the world’s largest Islamic community. Muslims have lived in Indonesia for around 1,000 years, the first probably traders from the Arab world. By the 16th century, Islam had been embraced by many of the country’s main ethnic groups.
Still, most Indonesian Muslims are among the world’s most moderate, and see no significant threat to their religion. Others shudder at what they see as a revival in the use of the term ‘jihad’. The word has cropped up several times in Indonesian history, most notably in 1965 when some Islamic groups considered themselves on a ‘jihad’ to rid the country of communists: some 500,000 people died in months of slaughter.
Few academics see a repeat of that period. "There are some areas of disagreement between religions in Indonesia," says Arbi Sanit, a political scientist at the University of Indonesia. "But each one is different and I don’t think there are enough extremists to make this kind of movement strong enough."
Still, more recent history has left some bitter aftertastes for many Muslims. President Suharto kept religion out of politics for several decades. Any whiff of Islamic radicalism was quickly squashed, including a protest by Muslims in the Jakarta port of Tanjung Priok in 1984 when several hundred people were shot dead by security forces. It was only in the last eight years of his rule that he switched tack, wooing Islamic support to bolster his own position. But even with Mr. Suharto gone, the memory of incidents such as Tanjung Priok, and army excesses in the Muslim province of Aceh, have persuaded many radicals there’s still an official campaign to corral and denigrate Islam.
Until now that’s been a minority view. But it may be changing. Before bell-boy Suhendi lost his job last month, he wasn’t much of a Muslim. "I’d skip prayers and brawl," he recalls. Now he’s got time on his hands to read the papers and listen to Friday sermons he’s mad. "My religion is under attack. If I don’t fight back, who will?"
Feeding this defiance are some oddball theories. Mr. Darwin — named by his biology teacher father after Charles — reckons the CIA, Israel and overseas Chinese are plotting against Islam. It’s a view shared by leaders of similar movements. And it’s spread through the ranks via lectures, books — and movies. Mr. Darwin’s telling all his staff to watch ‘Enemy of the State’, in which a lawyer is hounded by a National Security Agency (cktk) equipped with hi-tech surveillance gadgetry. "A leaf does not fall from a tree unless the Jews want it to," Mr. Darwin says.
Despite such ideas, Mr. Darwin doesn’t come across as a wild-eyed fanatic. For years he worked as a shipping agent and he still does some export-import business; his sister, he says indulgently, “is a socialist. That’s fine by me.” Other would-be militia leaders hold down respectable jobs, like Hamdan Zoelva, a corporate lawyer who specializes in banking cases. "Law I consider as a job," the besuited father of two says in his wood-rimmed office in south Jakarta. "Social work is my hobby." Social work, in this case, means recruiting his own band of jihad warriors: in the first two weeks 15,000 volunteers had signed up. So far only a handful of medics have been sent into the field. "It was a way to pressure the government into doing something about Ambon," he says. "But we’re keeping it active in case anything else unexpected happens ."
Leaders also stress they’re not trying to create armed bands of irreligious thugs. At the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom, 19-year old student Fedri is being led through his paces — first about how good a Muslim he is, then next his skills at chanting the call-to-prayer. "I’m not very impressed with your Muslim activities," an interviewer says. "The Muslim community should be brave, brave enough to make its own decisions, even opposing the government." The dark-eyed youth, clutching his bag, shifts nervously. "I realize now I must study more about my religion." Then comes the easy part: he’s led to another room where two men attack him with fists, slaps and kicks. Mr. Fedri fights back spiritedly, staying on his feet. "We’re looking for fighters," explains Mr. Darwin.
Behind this fighting spirit is growing disillusionment with anything else on offer. Youths like Mr. Suhendi are dismissive of the main party leaders, some of whom also head the more traditional Islamic organizations. The mood is further soured by Friday sermons delivered by fiery preachers railing against the plight of Muslims: in one a preacher enflamed his congregation by reciting the story – possibly apocryphal – of a pregnant Muslim whose unborn child was torn from her womb.
In the face of this there’s not much the mainstream leaders can do. At the Council of Islamic Ulamas — an umbrella group that includes all official Muslim organizations — officials fret but say they can’t do much. One, Foreign Affairs Coordinator Isa Anshary, wrote an article for a mass daily earlier this month (March) defining the word ‘jihad’ in an effort to take the heat of calls for a armed defense of Islam. Another said he regularly received abusive phone calls from people demanding the council issue a fatwa on Christian Ambonese. "Last week I had more than 1,000 young men banging on my door demanding an immediate jihad. I tried to calm them down by inviting the leaders in for tea. I think I persuaded them not to head for Ambon."
Part of the problem is a theological one: anyone can declare a fatwa, and a jihad is as much a personal struggle as a communal one. This leaves a back door for anyone to set up a movement of his own and start recruiting followers. Which is exactly what Al-Habib M. Rizieq bin Hussein Syihab did last summer. Infuriated by the breakdown in law and order, the graduate of King Saud University in Riyadh set up the Islam Defenders’ Front in his front room. So far, he says, he has 16 million followers — a figure impossible to verify. On top of that, he says he has one million trained warriors ready to defend the faith. Although he set up his organization last August, membership has shot up since Ambon, he says. "The spirit of the youth is growing."
Still, such movements raise troubling questions — not least of which is whether leaders like Mr. Habib can control their own cadres. Indeed, there are already signs that this is not the case. Take last November, for example, when some 300 of Mr. Habib’s warriors intervened in a mass brawl between Muslim residents of Ketapang, a north Jakarta district, and some 400 Christian men guarding a nearby gambling hall. The Christians were quickly outnumbered, and some were butchered in the streets and alleyways by Muslim mobs angered by rumors that a mosque had been burned. Mr. Habib denies media reports he orchestrated the violence, and says his men were not among the killers. But he defends his right to intervene, even if the presence of his men encouraged the killings. "As a Muslim community we reacted. The mosque is a sacred symbol. Once it has been touched Muslims have a responsibility to defend it."
Still, it wasn’t an auspicious start for Muslim vigilantism. And few see the presence of such groups helping stablize Indonesia’s racial and religious disorder ahead of June’s elections. Says Human Rights Watch’s Sidney Jones: " It’s only going to make things worse."
-v-
This is the first edit, with the editor’s comments.
Jeremy,
Three thoughts:
(1) Needs more of a nuttish graf (right now seems to have several nuttish grafs spread out) and a more cohesive “beginning” section, sticking closely to the key theme, which is: look at this sign of rapid and troubling escalation. Suggestions on this below.
(2) Throughout the story it needs to be written in a more explicit, explicatory (whatever) way, so the message is clearer: Here’s how this piece fits with the rest, and follows what came before. In my suggested template for the new top, see how I’ve tried to do that.
(3) The conclusion I think can do a good job of capturing the murky uncertainties of the vigilante strategy, but the anecdote/situation needs to be wrestled into submission so that it does your bidding more willingly. Right Now I feel like I have to read it twice to see the possibility.
Here’s a suggested structure for the new top. Let’s talk about the “middle” tomorrow.
Thanks, Jesse
———-
JAKARTA — To grasp the tensions ushering Indonesia closer to social collapse, visit the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom.
Here at this old colonial-style bungalow, young men are lining up to join what one flyer calls a “holy war” to defend Islam. Founded in Mid-March in loose association with one of many nascent Muslim political parties, it is striking a chord among young men idled by unemployment, embittered by a feeling that Muslims are getting shortchanged in today’s Indonesia, and annoyed with mainstream Islamic leaders they consider too wimpy. "We got 600 applicants in two days, and that’s just in one office," says the movement’s chairman, Darwin (who like many Indonesians uses only one name). Other Muslim parties have already followed suit.
If the term holy war sounds like a fearful escalation, make no mistake, Indonesia has already descended into small-scale, efficient religious killing. In the past XX weeks on the spice island of Ambon, XX people have died in clashes between Christian and Muslim street mobs. But those battles have no apparent apparatus behind them; the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom represents a troubling move toward formalized, religious vigilantism.
/// THEN A GRAF OF THREE OBSERVATIONS, THAT DOES TWO THINGS: ELABORATES ON THE “SOCIAL TENSIONS” MENTIONED IN THE LEDE, AND FORESHADOWS THE STUFF DOWN LOWER THAT YOU’LL GET INTO (SCAPEGOATING/JEWS, ETC) ///
It’s happening against a complex backdrop. For decades, Indonesia’s racial tensions were kept in check by the iron hand of former president Suharto’s rule — a control that’s now gone. /// OR SOME MORE SPECIFIC SENTENCE LIKE THAT BUT THAT FORESHADOWS HOW WE’RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT PREVIOUS VIOLENT ISLAMIC RACIALIST CLAMPDOWNS LIKE THE SHOOTING AT THE PORT. /// Overtly religious political parties, long illegal, are scrambling to build a following with sometimes heated rhetoric. Unemployment is surging /// A NUMBER, PREFERABLY FOR YOUNG MEN, OR EVEN BETTER FOR YOUNG MUSLIMS VS. THE POPULATION AS A WHOLE (OR SOME SUCH) /// AND THEN MAYBE ONE MORE SENTENCE, GETTING AT THE SCAPEGOATING ISSUE. YOUTHFUL IDEOLOGY/NAIVETE.
The group behind this one recruitment center, the Islamic Youth Movement, denies it is preparing for outright aggression. This is “not for revenge, but to maintain our pride and honor,” says Mr. Darwin, the organizer. He says he envisages a disciplined Islamic corps with skills in first aid, teaching, and self-defense.
That’s not the message received by Suhendi, a 23-year-old unemployed bellboy queuing up to be interviewed. Tall, bright-eyed and articulate, he knows exactly why he wants to join. “Since getting the sack earlier this month, I’ve had a chance to read more about Ambon,” he says. “I must defend my religion. And if I die, I can go to heaven — it’s simple.”
———-
And there end the “beginning.” I’d suggest in next graf changing pace dramatically, going into maybe two grafs of deep history about islam — how it grew in indo; how it’s diffeent from other Islamic countries.
In terms of numbers, it’s hard to imagine why Muslims would feel threatened. Accounting for around 80% of Indonesia’s 210 million people, they represent the world’s largest Islamic community. Muslims have lived in Indonesia for around 1,000 years, the first probably traders from the Arab world. By the 16th century, Islam had been embraced by many of the country’s main ethnic groups.
Still, most Indonesian Muslims are among the world’s most moderate and see no significant threat to their religion. Others shudder at what they see as a revival in the use of the term ‘jihad’. The word has cropped up several times in Indonesian history, most notably in 1965 when some Islamic groups considered themselves on a ‘jihad’ to rid the country of communists: some 500,000 people died in months of slaughter. Few academics see a repeat of that period. "There are some areas of disagreemen t between religions in Indonesia," says Arbi Sanit, a political scientist at the University of Indonesia (cktk). "But each one is different and I don’t think there are enough extremists to make this kind of movement strong enough."
Still, more recent history has left some bitter aftertastes for many Muslims. President Suharto kept religion out of politics for several decades. Any whiff of Islamic radicalism was quickly squashed, including a protest by Muslims in the Jakarta port of Tanjung Priok in 1984 when several hundred people were shot dead by security forces. It was only in the last eight years of his rule that he switched tack, wooing Islamic support to bolster his own position. But even with Mr. Suharto gone, the memory of incidents such as Tanjung Priok, and army excesses in the Muslim province of Aceh, have persuaded many radicals there’s still an official campaign to corral and denigrate Islam.
HOLYWAR/Jeremy Wagstaff/staff (tagline to Rin Hyndriati)
Until Suhendi lost his job as a bellboy at a downtown hotel last month, he wasn’t much of a Muslim. "I’d skip prayers and brawl," the lanky, bright-eyed 23 year old recalls. Now he’s got time on his hands to read the papers and listen to Friday sermons he’s mad. "My religion is under attack. If I don’t fight back, who will?"
Some of Indonesia’s Muslim groups are recruiting for what they call a ‘holy war’, and are finding a receptive audience among disenchanted youth. It’s a reflection of public frustration with the government and political groups on offer but it also reveals just how fragmented and divisive Indonesia has become.
Take the Islamic Youth Movement, which has been swamped by applicants since handing out flyers at nearby mosques earlier this month looking for anyone "willing to die for their religion". Inside, it’s a beehive of activity. Applicants — all of them young men — are ushered into rooms where they’re interviewed alone and behind closed doors. "We got 600 applicants in two days. And that’s just in one office," says movement chairman Darwin (many Indonesians take only one name). Still, it’s no pushover to join: Only 200 have been accepted so far. "We’re looking for quality, not quantity," he says.
It’s not just a drive to attract fresh worshippers: Mr. Darwin — named by his biology teacher father after Charles — believes Islam’s survival is at stake. Brutal ethnic and religious mini-wars have broken out across the country — including the Spice Island of Ambon, where hundreds of people died in recent clashes between Christians and Muslims. Mr. Darwin feels his Muslim brothers are coming off worst, and he doesn’t want it to happen again. His goal: finding candidates for a disciplined Islamic corps with skills in first aid, teaching — and self-def ense. Brandishing a wallet of photographs of young men practicing martial arts at a location he declines to divulge, Mr. Darwin says: "This is our first contingent; they’re ready for the next Ambon."
He’s not alone in fearing for the future of Islam: other groups are signing up recruits for similar reasons. It’s a troubling sign of a widening social chasm in Indonesia, where race and religion are often at the root of post-Suharto violence. Bloody riots last May were often directed at the ethnic Chinese minority — often Christian or Buddhist and perceived by many Indonesians to be better off. Since then clashes have erupted along ethnic or religious lines elsewhere. And while much of such unrest has exploded and quickly died down, the troubles in Ambon lasted for weeks, destroying much of the town center and creating waves of refugees who spread their tales of religious conflict to other islands.
It’s also happening against a complex political backdrop: For the first time in 30 years, overtly religious political parties are legal. President B.J. Habibie, who replaced his mentor Mr. Suharto after nationwide demonstrations last May, is struggling to hold the country and economy together until elections in June and a presidential election by the new parliament by November. Last week he was booed when he visited Aceh, one of Indonesia’s most troubled – and most Islamic – provinces. In attempting to assuage the country’s more vulnerable groups – chiefly the ethnic Chinese, whose money is regarded as vital to restoring the economy – Mr. Habibie is seen as leaving himself exposed to charges that he’s ignored the problems of Muslims.
But for some, especially among the more devout Muslim groups, a more unlikely conspiracy is at play. Mr. Darwin, who learned his English working for an British shipping company, echoes others when he says the CIA, Israel and overseas Chinese are plotting against Islam. He’s telling all his staff to watch the movie ‘Enemy of the State’, in which a lawyer is hounded by a National Security Agency (cktk) equipped with hi-tech surveillance gadgetry. "A leaf does not fall from a tree unless the Jews want it to," he says.
Despite the rhetoric, few leaders of such groups see themselves as fanatics. Most hold down respectable jobs, like Hamdan Zoelva, a corporate lawyer who specializes in banking cases. "Law I consider as a job," the besuited father of xx (tk) says in his wood-rimmed office in south Jakarta. "Social work is my hobby." Social work, in this case, meant taking applications for jihad warriors: in the first two weeks 15,000 volunteers had signed up. "It was a way to pressure the government into doing something about Ambon," he says. "But we’re keeping it active in case anything unexpected happens ."
Organizers aren’t necessarily calling for violence. Muslim clerics are quick to point out that the term ‘jihad’ has several meanings, and does not always carry the connotation of war. Abdullah Hehamahua, whose Masyumi party houses the Islamic Youth Movement, says "jihad in Islam does not mean fight, but hard work, or struggle." That’s the message being given a young applicant, 19-year old student Fedri, who’s being questioned by a Movement official in a dusty officeroom. "I’m not very impressed wit h your Muslim activities," the interviewer says. "The Muslim community should be brave, brave enough to make its own decisions, even opposing the government." The dark-eyed youth, clutching his bag, shifts nervously. "I realize now I must study more about my religion." At another desk, a youth is taken through his paces singing verses from the Koran.
Another room tells another story. Here applicants are undergoing a ‘physical examination’ which involves being attacked by two mock assailants. There’s nothing mock, however, about the flailing limbs as the youth kicks and punches in an effort to stay on his feet. The test finishes as suddenly as it began, with a handshake and a pat on the back. "We’re looking for fighters," says Mr. Darwin.
Indeed, there’s little spaces for theological niceties among the applicants. The combination of adventure and certainty attracts Syarifuddin, an unemployed 23-year old who says he wants to defend his Muslim brothers. But he’s not sure exactly how. Mr. Suhendi, the former bell-boy, is more outspoken. "My brothers in Ambon are desperate. I’m a Muslim so I must defend my religion. If I die, I will go to Heaven. It’s simple."
That so many young men are flocking to organizations like Mr. Darwin reflects widespread disillusionment with the political process underway to create a new democracy. Youths like Mr. Suhendi are dismissive of the main party leaders, some of whom also head the more traditional Islamic organizations. In turn, these mainstream groups are in danger of being outflanked by more outspoken members of the faithful. Friday sermons in recent months have become more fiery, mosque-goers say: in one a preacher enflamed the congregation by reciting the story – possibly apocryphal – of a pregnant Muslim whose unborn child was torn from her womb.
At the Council of Islamic Ulamas — an umbrella group that includes all such organizations — officials fret about the rising temperature. One, Foreign Affairs Coordinator Isa Anshary, wrote an article for a mass daily earlier this month (March) defining the word ‘jihad’ in an effort to take the heat of calls for a armed defense of Islam. Another said he regularly received abusive phone calls from people demanding the council issue a fatwa on Christian Ambonese. "Last week I had more than 1,000 young men banging on my door demanding an immediate jihad. I tried to calm them down by inviting the leaders in for tea. I think I persuaded them not to head for Ambon."
Part of the problem is a theological one: anyone can declare a fatwa, and a jihad is as much a personal struggle as a communal one. This leaves a back door for anyone to set up a movement of his own and start recruiting followers. Which is exactly what Al-Habib M. Rizieq bin Hussein Syihab did last summer. Infuriated by the breakdown in law and order, the graduate of King Saud University in Riyadh set up the Islam Defenders’ Front in his front room. So far, he says, he has 16 million followers — a figure impossible to verify. On top of that, he says he has one m illion trained warriors ready to defend the faith. Although he set up his organization last August, membership has shot up since Ambon, he says. "The spirit of the youth is growing."
Indeed, Mr. Habib cuts an impressive figure. In flowing white robes common to Middle Eastern countries but rarely seen outside mosques in Indonesia, he sits before a lectern in his front porch dividing his time between dispensing wisdom to a procession of followers, and playing with his four daughters. Above him a picture e xplains in graphic detail the evils of smoking; alongside it a family tree shows him to be a 38th generation descendant of the Islamic prophet Mohammed. (ck spelling). In case his message isn’t clear, his embossed namecard spells out: "Live through honor, or die through jihad".
So far his crusade to defend the faith hasn’t been an overwhelming success. Last November (cktk) members of one of his Koran study groups in Ketapang, a north Jakarta district, reported scuffles between Muslim residents and some 400 Christian men guarding a nearby gambling hall. He quickly dispatched some 300 of his warriors to defend the local mosque. But things quickly got out of hand when the Christian gang found itself outnumbered. Brutality followed, as mobs burned nearby churches and killed several gang members in brutal fashion. Mr. Habib denies media reports he orchestrated the violence, and says his men were not among the killers. But he believes it was right to intervene, even if the presence of his men encouraged the rio ters. "As a Muslim community we reacted. The mosque is a sacred symbol. Once it has been touched Muslims have a responsibility to defend it."
Still, it wasn’t an auspicious start for Muslim vigilantism. And it reflects some of the dangers inherent in such groups. While organizers say they’ve only sent paramedics to Ambon, they’re ready for trouble elsewhere. And that worries human rights groups like Human Rights Watch’s Sidney Jones, who sees the mushrooming of private security squads, both religious an d secular, as adding to the menace ahead of June’s elections. "The problem happens whenever you take anyone from outside. It’s only going to make things worse."
-v-
This was the first draft of the story.
HOLYWAR
By Jeremy Wagstaff/tagline to Rin Hyndriati
Until Suhendi lost his job as a bellboy at a downtown hotel last month, he wasn’t much of a Muslim. "I’d skip prayers and brawl," the lanky, bright-eyed 23 year old recalls. Now he’s got time on his hands to read the papers and listen to Friday sermons he’s mad. “My religion is under attack. If I don’t fight back, who will?”
Some of Indonesia’s Muslim groups are recruiting for what they call a ‘holy war’, and are finding a receptive audience among disenchanted youth. It’s a reflection of public frustration with the government and political groups on offer but it also reveals just how fragmented and divisive Indonesia has become.
Take the Islamic Youth Movement, which has been swamped by applicants since handing out flyers at nearby mosques earlier this month looking for anyone "willing to die for their religion". Inside, it’s a beehive of activity. Applicants — all of them young men — are ushered into rooms where they’re interviewed alone and behind closed doors. "We got 600 applicants in two days. And that’s just in one office," says movement chairman Darwin (many Indonesians take only one name). Still, it’s no pushover to join: Only 200 have been accepted so far. "We’re looking for quality, not quantity," he says.
It’s not just a drive to attract fresh worshippers: Mr. Darwin — named by his biology teacher father after Charles — believes Islam’s survival is at stake. Brutal ethnic and religious mini-wars have broken out across the country — including the Spice Island of Ambon, where hundreds of people died in recent clashes between Christians and Muslims. Mr. Darwin feels his Muslim brothers are coming off worst, and he doesn’t want it to happen again. His goal: finding candidates for a disciplined Islamic corps with skills in first aid, teaching — and self-defence. Brandishing a wallet of photographs of young men practising martial arts at a location he declines to divulge, Mr. Darwin says: "This is our first contingent; they’re ready for the next Ambon."
He’s not alone in fearing for the future of Islam: other groups are signing up recruits for similar reasons. It’s a troubling sign of a widening social chasm in Indonesia, where race and religion are often at the root of post-Suharto violence. Bloody riots last May were often directed at the ethnic Chinese minority — often Christian or Buddhist and perceived by many Indonesians to be better off. Since then clashes have erupted along ethnic or religious lines elsewhere. And while much of such unrest has exploded and quickly died down, the troubles in Ambon lasted for weeks, destroying much of the town center and creating waves of refugees who spread their tales of religious conflict to other islands.
It’s also happening against a complex political backdrop: For the first time in 30 years, overtly religious political parties are legal. President B.J. Habibie, who replaced his mentor Mr. Suharto after nationwide demonstrations last May, is struggling to hold the country and economy together until elections in June and a presidential election by the new parliament by November. Last week he was booed when he visited Aceh, one of Indonesia’s most troubled – and most Islamic – provinces. In attempting to assuage the country’s more vulnerable groups – chiefly the ethnic Chinese, whose money is regarded as vital to restoring the economy – Mr. Habibie is seen as leaving himself exposed to charges that he’s ignored the problems of Muslims.
In terms of numbers, it’s hard to imagine why Muslims would feel threatened. Accounting for around 80% of Indonesia’s 210 million people, they represent the world’s largest Islamic community. Muslims have lived in Indonesia for around 1,000 years, the first probably traders from the Arab world. By the 16th century, Islam had been embraced by many of the country’s main ethnic groups.
What’s more, most Indonesian Muslims are among the world’s most moderate, and see no significant threat to their religion. Others shudder at what they see as a revival in the use of the term ‘jihad’. The word has cropped up several times in Indonesian history, most notably in 1965 when some Islamic groups considered themselves on a ‘jihad’ to rid the country of communists: some 500,000 people died in months of slaughter. Few academics see a repeat of that period. “There are some areas of disagreement between religions in Indonesia,” says Arbi Sanit, a political scientist at the University of Indonesia (cktk). “But each one is different and I don’t think there are enough extremists to make this kind of movement strong enough.”
Still, more recent history has left some bitter aftertastes for many Muslims. President Suharto kept religion out of politics for several decades. Any whiff of Islamic radicalism was quickly squashed, including a protest by Muslims in the Jakarta port of Tanjung Priok in 1984, when several hundred people were shot dead by security forces. It was only in the last eight years of his rule that he switched tack, wooing Islamic support to bolster his own position. But even with Mr. Suharto gone, the memory of incidents such as Tanjung Priok, and army excesses in the Muslim province of Aceh, have persuaded many radicals there’s still an official campaign to corral and denigrate Islam.
But for some, especially among the more devout Muslim groups, a more unlikely conspiracy is at play. Mr. Darwin, who learned his English working for an British shipping company, echoes others when he says the CIA, Israel and overseas Chinese are plotting against Islam. He’s telling all his staff to watch the movie ‘Enemy of the State’, in which a lawyer is hounded by a National Security Agency (cktk) equipped with hi-tech surveillance gadgetry. “A leaf does not fall from a tree unless the Jews want it to,” he says.
Despite the rhetoric, few leaders of such groups see themselves as fanatics. Most hold down respectable jobs, like Hamdan Zoelva, a corporate lawyer who specializes in banking cases. “Law I consider as a job,” the besuited father of xx (tk) says in his wood-rimmed office in south Jakarta. “Social work is my hobby.” Social work, in this case, meant taking applications for jihad warriors: in the first two weeks 15,000 volunteers had signed up. “It was a way to pressure the government into doing something about Ambon,” he says. “But we’re keeping it active in case anything unexpected happens.”
Organizers aren’t necessarily calling for violence. Muslim clerics are quick to point out that the term ‘jihad’ has several meanings, and does not always carry the connotation of war.
Abdullah Hehamahua, whose Masyumi party houses the Islamic Youth Movement, says “jihad in Islam does not mean fight, but hard work, or struggle.” That’s the message being given a young applicant, 19-year old student Fedri, who’s being questioned by a Movement official in a dusty officeroom. “I’m not very impressed with your Muslim activities,” the interviewer says. “The Muslim community should be brave, brave enough to make its own decisions, even opposing the government.” The dark-eyed youth, clutching his bag, shifts nervously. “I realize now I must study more about my religion.” At another desk, a youth is taken through his paces singing verses from the Koran.
Another room tells another story. Here applicants are undergoing a ‘physical examination’ which involves being attacked by two mock assailants. There’s nothing mock, however, about the flailing limbs as the youth kicks and punches in an effort to stay on his feet. The test finishes as suddenly as it began, with a handshake and a pat on the back. “We’re looking for fighters,” says Mr. Darwin.
Indeed, there’s little spaces for theological niceties among the applicants. The combination of adventure and certainty attracts Syarifuddin, an unemployed 23-year old who says he wants to defend his Muslim brothers. But he’s not sure exactly how. Mr. Suhendi, the former bell-boy, is more outspoken. “My brothers in Ambon are desperate. I’m a Muslim so I must defend my religion. If I die, I will go to Heaven. It’s simple.”
That so many young men are flocking to organizations like Mr. Darwin reflects widespread disillusionment with the political process underway to create a new democracy. Youths like Mr. Suhendi are dismissive of the main party leaders, some of whom also head the more traditional Islamic organizations. In turn, these mainstream groups are in danger of being outflanked by more outspoken members of the faithful. Friday sermons in recent months have become more fiery, mosque-goers say: in one a preacher enflamed the congregation by reciting the story – possibly apocryphal – of a pregnant Muslim whose unborn child was torn from her womb.
At the Council of Islamic Ulamas — an umbrella group that includes all such organizations — officials fret about the rising temperature. One, Foreign Affairs Coordinator Isa Anshary, wrote an article for a mass daily earlier this month (March) defining the word ‘jihad’ in an effort to take the heat of calls for a armed defense of Islam. Another said he regularly received abusive phone calls from people demanding the council issue a fatwa on Christian Ambonese. "Last week I had more than 1,000 young men banging on my door demanding an immediate jihad. I tried to calm them down by inviting the leaders in for tea. I think I persuaded them not to head for Ambon."
Part of the problem is a theological one: anyone can declare a fatwa, and a jihad is as much a personal struggle as a communal one. This leaves a back door for anyone to set up a movement of his own and start recruiting followers. Which is exactly what Al-Habib M. Rizieq bin Hussein Syihab did last summer. Infuriated by the breakdown in law and order, the graduate of King Saud University in Riyadh set up the Islam Defenders’ Front in his front room. So far, he says, he has 16 million followers — a figure impossible to verify. On top of that, he says he has one million trained warriors ready to defend the faith. Although he set up his organization last August, membership has shot up since Ambon, he says. "The spirit of the youth is growing."
Indeed, Mr. Habib cuts an impressive figure. In flowing white robes common to Middle Eastern countries but rarely seen outside mosques in Indonesia, he sits before a lectern in his front porch dividing his time between dispensing wisdom to a procession of followers, and playing with his four daughters. Above him a picture explains in graphic detail the evils of smoking; alongside it a family tree shows him to be a 38th generation descendant of the Islamic prophet Mohammed. (ck spelling). In case his message isn’t clear, his embossed namecard spells out: "Live through honor, or die through jihad".
So far his crusade to defend the faith hasn’t been an overwhelming success. Last November (cktk) members of one of his Koran study groups in Ketapang, a north Jakarta district, reported scuffles between Muslim residents and some 400 Christian men guarding a nearby gambling hall. He quickly dispatched some 300 of his warriors to defend the local mosque. But things quickly got out of hand when the Christian gang found itself outnumbered. Brutality followed, as mobs burned nearby churches and killed several gang members in brutal fashion. Mr. Habib denies media reports he orchestrated the violence, and says his men were not among the killers. But he believes it was right to intervene, even if the presence of his men encouraged the rioters. "As a Muslim community we reacted. The mosque is a sacred symbol. Once it has been touched Muslims have a responsibility to defend it."
Still, it wasn’t an auspicious start for Muslim vigilantism. And it reflects some of the dangers inherent in such groups. While organizers say they’ve only sent paramedics to Ambon, they’re ready for trouble elsewhere. And that worries human rights groups like Human Rights Watch’s Sidney Jones, who sees the mushrooming of private security squads, both religious and secular, as adding to the menace ahead of June’s elections. “The problem happens whenever you take anyone from outside. It’s only going to make things worse.”
endit
This is the proposal which was accepted.
HOLYWAR: Some of Indonesia’s Muslim political groups are recruiting for what they call a "holy war," and are finding a receptive audience among disenchanted youth.
The Islamic Youth Movement advertised last week for people "willing to die for their religion." They received 200 applicants in just two days, and that’s in just one of their many offices. The eager conscripts: unemployed youths angered by Indonesia’s bloody religious strife, and frustrated by perceived caution among mainstream Islamic leaders. Other groups say they are launching similar drives.
It’s a troubling sign of a widening social chasm in Indonesia, where race and religion are often at the root of post-Suharto violence. It’s happening against a complex backdrop: For the first time in 30 years, religious political parties are legal. At the same time, the nation is being torn by violence such as the religious strife on the Spice Island of Ambon, where XX people have died in recent weeks in Christians-Muslims clashes.
The result is places like the Registration Post for Preparing for Islamic Martyrdom, where XX number of young men line up to be interviewed. Inside, candidates are weeded out through a combination of interviews and brute force. In one room, a bearded man grills a teenage applicant about Islam. “I know I need to study more,” comes the soft-voiced reply. In the next room, two men conduct a physical exam of another applicant, which amounts to an all-out brawl. The young man fights valiantly, a blur of karate kicks, flailing arms and grunts, but ends up on the ground being kicked.
Organizers aren’t calling for violence. In front of the building, one one recruiter explains that it’s “not for revenge, but to maintain our pride and honor.” But that’s not the message received by Suhendim a 23-year-old unemployed bellboy who is queuing up to be interviewed. Tall, bright-eyed and articulate, he knows exactly why he wants to join. “Since getting the sack
earlier this month, I’ve had a chance to read more about Ambon. I’m a Muslim too so I must defend my religion." he says. "And if I die, I can go to heaven. It’s simple.”
Jeremy Wagstaff will follow one or two recruits through the process and talk to the movement’s leaders to illustrate how Islamic radicalism is appealing to growing numbers of hitherto moderate Muslims. 25 inches deliverable this week. Interested?
Please write a story about the discussion here: http://bit.ly/gkvGB4
I’d like you to
This is how the course will be taught. Modules may vary in terms of content and order.
Week |
In class activities Friday 9.30-11.30 am; 12-2 pm
|
Assignments |
|
1 |
Introduction to Course & each other A brief history of journalism, media, and the internet. What is online journalism? The future of media. |
|
|
2 |
Chinese New Year |
Team selection |
|
3 |
Online journalism tools: HTML, WordPress and Content Management Systems Laptops, netbooks, tablets, smartphones and web apps |
Vertical topic proposal Vertical design and hosting |
|
4 |
Online journalism principles: Process, delivery and content How to think and work like an online journalist Proposing stories/outlines |
|
|
5 |
Presentation of vertical by teams WordPress basics Research: Tools and approaches to researching, organizing and mining data, story ideas and sources |
Group activity: analyze a news website for its layout, content and editorial approach. Present findings in class. |
|
6 |
Multimedia 1: Finding, creating, editing and incorporating images and graphics into online reporting |
|
|
7 |
Reporting: using the net to connect to sources; writing for online |
|
|
RECESS |
||
|
8 |
Multimedia 2: Finding, creating, editing and incorporating video into online reporting |
|
|
9 |
Multimedia : Mashups. Combining audio, video, stills and other media into online reporting |
|
|
Online strategy: working out what to publish, when to publish. Setting priorities. Planning stories. Measuring reader interest. Security and other issues. |
||
|
11 |
Online engagement: How to engage your audience, promote your site and your own profile |
|
|
12 |
Good Friday holiday |
South China Morning Post [scmp.com]
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Singapore Exploits Labourers From China, Report Says
Mark O’Neill
The 200,000 migrants from China working in Singapore suffer abuse, discrimination and violations of their rights but few can obtain legal redress because they are under the control of their employers, according to a report by the China Labour Bulletin.
The 60-page report, "Hired on Sufferance", called on Singapore and Beijing to sign the three major international conventions on migrant worker rights and take other steps to protect the workers.
Foreign workers play a critical role in Singapore’s economy: one million migrants made up one third of its workforce in 2009, accounting for 70 per cent of those in construction, 51 per cent in manufacturing and 25 per cent in services. More than 80 per cent are unskilled.
The migrants come from Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines and China. Those from China work mainly in construction, manufacturing and transport. Singapore is the second-largest market in the world, after Japan, for labour from China.
The abuse begins even before the migrant leaves their own shores, the report said. Chinese regulations stipulate that overseas labour
contractors can only charge workers a maximum commission of 19,000 yuan (HK$22,480) but CLB found that the migrants paid between 30,000
and 50,000 yuan for a two-year contract.
Chinese law also states that before they leave workers should sign contracts of employment that comply with the law of the country where they are going. In reality, many workers have no contract – merely a verbal agreement on wages and working hours – or sign contracts with illegal clauses, many signing only a few hours before they board the plane.
When they arrive in Singapore, most are told to hand over their passports, even though this is illegal under the city’s laws. For its one million foreign workers, the city has only 35 government-approved and purpose-built dormitories. The rest live in on-site quarters, shared flats, illegal dormitories converted from private buildings or cargo containers.
According to a report in The Straits Times, about 40 per cent of the 1,460 workers’ quarters inspected by the government between 2009 and
2010 were deemed unacceptable.
The report found foreign workers in the construction and service sectors earned about half of the average wage of local workers doing the same job. Those from China worked 10 to 12 hours a day, with two days off per month. The average working week for a Singaporean in 2009 was 46 hours and the average monthly wage S$3,872 (HK$23,580). The city has no minimum wage.
Most migrant workers received no paid sick leave, although the law provides for 14 days a year for outpatient problems and 60 days when time in hospital is required. One suffered an eye injury and was told he would lose his sight without treatment. "I told my boss but he refused to pay for the treatment. It is cheaper to let me go blind than to provide treatment."
Despite such cases, the report found that, in 2009, the rate of complaints to the Ministry of Manpower about violations of the Employment Act was 3.6 per 1,000 workers among foreign workers, compared with 8.4 per 1,000 among Singaporeans.
Most of the interviewees who had gone through mediation and Labour Court proceedings said Singapore was strict in terms of evidence and procedures and that the courts were impartial. But they found it hard to enforce the judgments once they returned to China.
On its website, the Ministry of Manpower said that Singapore had been a member of the International Labour Organisation since independence in 1965. Its website has a page inviting people to inform the ministry of irregularities in the employment and treatment of foreign workers.
"But Singapore’s legal protection falls short of internationally acceptable standards," the report said. It said Singapore and China should sign the three major international conventions on migrant labour. "China should significantly tighten its monitoring and supervision of the country’s rapidly expanding and increasingly chaotic labour export business. China’s embassy in Singapore should take a far more proactive role in helping to resolve labour disputes involving Chinese citizens."
Newsstand – Worth It?
Is Apple’s new Newsstand for iPads and iPhones worth the effort?
What is it: Newsstand was launched in mid October in the latest version of iOS, its operating system for the iPad and iPhone. The goal of the feature is to help users find, collect and organise apps for newspapers and magazines. The “apps”–publications–appear in iTunes as an album, show or book would. It’s in effect a digital news kiosk. So what’s different about Newsstand?
Why it’s important: For Apple it’s an attempt to consolidate all news apps under one section, like Games or Lifestyle. Existing news apps won’t be forced into this, but those that do will find themselves featured in the section, so there is an advantage to being a first mover. For publishers it should make their products much easier to find; the iTunes store has become something of a chaotic free-for-all.
Indeed, in the first few days, Newsstand apps have enjoyed a surge of interest: The New York Times app for the iPad was downloaded 27,000 times in the week before the launch, and 189,000 in the week after. (The iPhone app was downloaded 85 times more, according to Poynter.) Publishers are reporting that in-app subscriptions are also doing well.
Pluses: The key benefit is that Newsstand apps will include a push notification so that updates are downloaded in the background. The app will already be downloaded and waiting, in the words of Poynter “like a newspaper on your doorstep or a magazine in your mailbox.” This process may only happen once a day, although apps can download up-to-date content when they’re opened.
Minuses: Newsstand apps won’t sit on the user’s home screen–instead they’ll be bundled together inside a virtual bookshelf. This may be seen as an advantage for users, but does mean that publishers who go this route will be pushed one click further down the food chain. The app icon, however, is no longer a traditional square but more akin to a magazine cover or front page. And of course it can change with each download.
The bottom line: Well, of course, publishers will be locked into Apple’s 30% revenue sharing deal and Apple gets the subscriber’s personal data. And Apple’s guidelines specifically reject any in-app subscription or buy links for content that would be used in the app. (In other words, the app can’t be used to buy or subscribe to content that can be accessible within the app. It can, however, be used to access content that is bought outside the app, so long as there’s no buy button inside the app to that content. In short, publishers can’t circumvent Apple’s 30% cut by giving away an app but with a link to a paid subscription mechanism elsewhere.)
There is another financial benefit at work here: since the introduction in July of the in-app purchasing system and auto-renewal, publishers have seen a spike in renewals: Exact Editions cites 80% renewals and a doubling of sales between July and August.
What people say: Critics consider this all to be in some ways a step backward. For publishers they’re not only locked into Apple’s revenue and data grabbing, but they also have limited options of differentiating themselves from other publications; they’re forced to sit on a shelf alongside all other comers, and while they’re still called ‘apps’ the product is being packaged and presented as a publication–what Poynter calls a “duplicative, rather than innovative” model. And while publishers may be grateful that their products now have a home, the danger is this becomes THE home for all magazines and newspapers, making it even harder for those who choose to go an independent route–by creating HTML5 Web apps, for example–to get themselves heard.
What to do: So what kind of strategy should a publisher adopt? Well, if you’ve already got something in the iTunes store it makes sense to move it into the Newsstand to capture this early surge of interest. Just make sure you have your in-app subscription bits working properly and in accordance with Apple’s guidelines. The preferred model seems to be a freemium one: the app is free, but subscription for the best content is on a monthly or annual basis.
And it’s not necessarily the old titles that are benefiting: News Corp’s eight-month old, iPad-only The Daily is doing well, too: It was the number one seller in the section after the Newsstand launch, and now has 80,000 paid subscribers–most of whom have paid for the full year subscription, according to Forbes.
If you don’t have anything for the iPad or iPhone already, it’s not something that should be jumped into lightly. There’s clearly a market for individual magazines and newspapers–rather than simply their content atomised into links shared on Facebook, accessed through RSS or aggregated through apps like things like Flipboard and Zite. But they need to be done right.