Category: Sosial

Penggiat Seni Zai Kuning Dipilih Wakili Singapura Di Venice Biennale

Penggiat seni pelbagai disiplin, Zai Kuning serta kurator dan sejarawan seni, June Yap dipilih oleh Majlis Seni Kebangsaan (NAC) bagi mewakili Singapura di pameran Venice Biennale, pada tahun depan.

Hasil kerja seni dipanggil “Dapunta Hyang”, nama Maharaja pertama kerajaan Srivijaya yang berkuasa di Asia Tenggara pada kurun ketujuh.

Struktur itu diperbuat daripada rotan dan benang disaluti lilin.

Ia merupakan sebahagian hasil kerja awal Zai dan memberi sedikit gambaran mengenai kerja seni yang bakal dipamerkan di Venice Biennale.

Ruang itulah di mana Zai dan June akan menghabiskan masa enam bulan selanjutnya bagi mempersiapkan kerja seni itu sebelum ia dipindahkan ke Venice.

Berbekalkan lebih 20 tahun penyelidikan tentang budaya, sejarah dan bahasa Melayu di Asia Tenggara, Zai berharap para pengunjung asing akan melihat Singapura dan rantau ini dengan perspektif berbeza.

“Kalau kita cakap Melayu, mereka cakap Malaysia. Tetapi, Melayu lebih lebar, lebih besar daripada itu. Melayu daripada Sumatera, Melayu daripada Filipina, Melayu daripada Thailand, Melayu itu lebih luas daripada apa yang orang tahu tentang dunia Melayu,” kata Zai.

Source: Berita MediaCorp

August 18, 2016
Peniaga Melayu Tutup Kedai, Perniagaan Di East Village Kurang Rancak

Perniagaan di pusat beli-belah East Village kurang rancak dua tahun selepas ia dibuka.

Lokasinya di kawasan Simpang Bedok, yang popular di kalangan penduduk di daerah timur, awalnya dianggap berpotensi. Ia mendorong ramai peniaga Melayu untuk mencuba peluang perniagaan di situ.

Namun kini, sebahagian pemilik melaporkan perniagaan yang lembab, bahkan ada yang terpaksa gulung tikar.

Sekitar 80 peratus daripada perniagaan di East Village dimiliki peniaga Melayu. Salah satunya ialah Cloud 9 Studio yang bermula sebagai perniagaan dalam talian menjual pakaian Muslimah.

LOKASI EAST VILLAGE “KURANG MENARIK”

Pemiliknya, Norazman Johari membuka kedainya yang pertama di East Village selepas beberapa rakan niaga turut membuka kedai di situ. Namun setahun kemudian, perniagaannya merosot sebanyak 50 peratus.

Menurut beliau, lokasi pusat beli-belah East Village yang digabungkan dalam sebuah projek kondominium, kurang menarik perhatian pengunjung.

Encik Norazman berkata: “Kalau kita naik teksi dan cakap hendak ke East Village, pemandu teksi akan cakap East Village atau Changi Village? Jadi mereka keliru, tidak tahu perbezaan East Village dengan Changi Village.

“Mungkin lokasinya ada orang yang tidak berapa tahu, mungkin penduduk dari daerah barat atau tengah tidak berapa tahu. Kebanyakan orang yang lalu di sini, mungkin mereka fikir ada apartmen di atas dan tidak tahu yang ada pusat beli-belah di sini.”

Sebenarnya East Village menempatkan sekitar 100 unit komersil termasuk banyak perniagaan F&B.

Watsub, yang menjual beraneka sandwic premium, mencatat penjualan laris sehingga 120 sandwic sehari ketika dibuka Mac tahun lalu. Namun sekarang ia menjual sekitar 80 keping sandwic sehari.

CABARAN HAK MILIK STRATA

Cabaran berniaga di East Village adalah pembangunan jenis hak milik strata, dengan setiap peniaga menyewa daripada pemilik hartanah yang berbeza. Ini bermakna para peniaga tidak boleh bergantung pada pihak pengurusan East Village untuk melakukan kegiatan pemasaran bagi perniagaan mereka.

Pemilik Watsub, Norizam Jafar, berkata: “Kami ada beberapa pilihan untuk teruskan di sini atau pun untuk keluar dari East Village. Kami ada banyak tawaran juga di luar, di tempat-tempat yang lain tetapi satu faktor yang kuat ialah sewanya.”

Para peniaga di East Village yang ditemui BERITAMediacorp membayar sewa kedai antara S$2,000 hingga S$7,000 sebulan. Sebahagian mereka berunding dengan pemilik hartanah untuk menurunkan harga sewa namun tidak semua yang berjaya.

BEBERAPA PERNIAGAAN MELAYU TIDAK LAGI BEROPERASI DI SITU

Antara perniagaan milik Melayu yang tidak lagi beroperasi di situ ialah Sarah’s the Pancake Cafe, Tasconi’s Pizza, Cookwerx, Perghh dan Salty Peanut.

Pengurus Operasi Salty Peanut, Zukiflee Othman, berkata: “Untuk usahawan baru, saya rasa lagi baik mereka fikirkan kolaborasi dengan beberapa jenis bisnes, kalau kita satukan dua atau tiga jenis bisnes dalam satu unit, saya rasa itu lagi bermanfaat.”

Meskipun pada umumnya para peniaga mempunyai persamaan dalam memenuhi keperluan pelanggan Melayu, mereka percaya produk dan barang yang diketengahkan setiap peniaga mempunyai kekuatan tersendiri dan berharap perniagaan mereka akan bertahan.

Source: http://berita.mediacorp.sg

August 17, 2016
Maid Too Busy Playing Pokémon Go To Take Care Of Employer’s Daughter

Kindly Read and Share

Anyone staying at Jurong West ST 52 mummies, who know this maid employer’s. Kindly let the employer know what happen today that I witness with my own eye at the playground.

The maid in the picture below was suppose to take care of her employer kids, but she was playing “Pokémon Go” with 1 of the kid at the bench. One of the maid (onlooker) which was also taking care of her employer kids happen to saw the little girl (sitting at the maid lap) in the picture roaming around the playground without anybody taking care of her. The little girl was picking up food from the ground and she ate the food that she pick up, the maid (onlooker) called the maid in the pic but she ignore her. While I kindly approach her and let her know that the little girl is eating the food she pick from the ground. But the maid reply was : ” why you so kpo (busybody)” and my reply was :” what kpo stomach is not yours (referring to the little girl) what happen if she fall sick.” Yet the maid in the pic keep saying :” kpo kpo kpo” ” you are not my boss”

My reply was ” I’m not your boss, you are a human being but the little girl is not a human being is it?” But all the maid keep saying was “kpo kpo” and she didn’t do anything but just sitting at the bench playing Pokémon Go with the little boy and keep talking without bothering the little girl.

After that she vent her anger on the little girl by pulling her arm harshly forcing the little girl to sit on her lap.

After a while she left with her employer kids and walk to the HDB block and the little girl started to cry.

Kindly all kind soul help to share to let everyone know how this maid treat a poor little girl.

Source: Kimchi Chris Yukiko

August 17, 2016
Taxi Driver Racially Abuses Indian Passenger

Hello SMRT, I just encountered a very racist taxi driver, licence plate SHC 4460T today at around 6pm. After I got into the cab, he asked me if I’m Malay. I said no, I’m Indian.

He scoffed and said, “No you’re not Indian. Indian people are BLACK you are not black.” I replied that that wasn’t true and decided not to engage him in further conversation.

Then he asked me if I speak Malay or Chinese. I said, no I don’t, I speak Tamil.

“Tamil is most useless language. Even all Indian people here speak Malay. If you are in Singapore you must speak Chinese or Malay not Tamil” Again I said, that’s not true. I’m Indian and I don’t speak Malay or Chinese.

Then we passed a stall selling durians along Serangoon Road and he remarked that the durians at this stall are very cheap but “Chinese people don’t buy from here because Indian people buy.” He continued and said, “You know in Singapore Chinese people hate Indian people.” And he made hand gestures as if he’s drinking a bottle. “All Indian people know to do is”- continues making those hand gestures. “They don’t know to help” – I’m assuming he meant that Indian people do not contribute to society apart from paying alcohol tax.

At this point I had had enough and told him I did not appreciate the comments he had been making about Indians and told him to drop me off by the side of the road. As I moved to get out he said “where are you going pay the fare first”. This was still along Serangoon Road and nowhere near my house where he was meant to drop me off, so I told him if he wants the fare he can drive me to the nearest police station where we can both make reports. Needless to say, he must’ve known what he had been saying was clearly wrong because he then told me to get out of the cab.

It’s a very sad state of affairs, when just less than a week ago we celebrated 51 years of coming together as a nation regardless of race, language or religion.

I’m sure that SMRT does not condone such racism amongst any of its employees and I would very much appreciate if this matter is followed up with and the taxi driver in question educated on the need to keep his opinions on certain races to himself.

Thank you.

EDIT: Hi guys, SMRT has followed up regarding this incident. I’ve attached a screenshot of their response in the comment section. SMRT thank you for assisting me with this. I have no doubt that this was an isolated incident and in no way represents the entirety of your company or employees. 🙂

Source: Peshhalaa Davendran

August 17, 2016
No Non-Muslim Maids For Malaysian Muslims

PETALING JAYA: Maid agencies are stunned by a “new” directive imposed by the Immigration Department barring them from hiring non-Muslim maids.

Employers have questioned the rationale behind the policy, which department officials said was not new, as they were worried that they may not get any maids at all.

Malaysian Maid Employers Association (MAMA) president Engku Ahmad Fauzi said the policy would limit the supply of maids for Muslims.

“Religion should not be an obstacle. When you work in an office, you don’t base it on religion and likewise, this should not be the case for the maid in the home,” he said yesterday.

He called on the Immigration Department to enlighten people on the rationale of the policy.

A maid agency owner in Selangor who did not want to be named said she had applied for non-Muslim maids for Muslims who wanted them through the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System online but they were rejected.

“When I called, I was told to go to the counter to submit the application. But at the counter, the officers said that the policy was a directive from the director-general,” she said.

The officers said the policy had always existed and if she still wanted to put in the application, they would reject it, she said.

“If they did not allow Muslims to hire non-Muslims from the beginning, why did they allow it earlier?

“There was no circular to inform us about this,” she said, adding that the rejection had been ongoing for two weeks.

She said that if Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar could hire non-Muslims, why not Malaysia?

Another maid agency owner based in Kuala Lumpur said Malaysia had the policy all along, but some directors-general had allowed some flexibility depending on the situation.

“The policy narrows down the opportunity for Muslims to get maids,” she said.

Faiz Abdullah, 42, a father of three who lives in Petaling Jaya said he had heard from his maid agency about the matter.

He said that he would need to renew his maid’s permit this month and was worried that it would be rejected.

He said it was not easy to get a good and reliable maid these days and asked why it should be based on religion and race.

Business owner Zubir Rahman, 46, a father of three from Shah Alam said he was concerned about the policy because he preferred Filipino maids as they were more reliable.

He said he had three Indonesian maids before and two ran away but all four Filipino maids fulfilled their contracts.

“It would pose a problem for me because to get a good maid these days is very difficult,” said Zubir, whose current maid’s contract would expire in December.

Source: www.bharian.com.my

August 17, 2016