Perniagaan berasas kaum tak sesuai di Malaysia, kata pakar

 

Malakat Mall akan menutup premisnya di Cyberjaya pada 31 Julai ini selepas empat tahun beroperasi. (Malakat Mall web pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

Kempen perniagaan berasaskan kaum dan sentimen tidak akan bertahan untuk jangka masa panjang dalam keadaan pasaran terbuka serta bebas, kata pakar ekonomi.

Barjoyai Bardai berkata, kempen seperti itu memerlukan sumber baharu setiap masa bagi mencetuskan simpati untuk meraih sokongan.

Barjoyai Bardai.

“Pengguna sokong tapi hanya sampai ke satu tahap, mereka orang yang rasional, dari segi sokongan tidak sokong membuta, emosional…mereka mengambil kira harga, kualiti dan perkhidmatan, itu asasnya.

Dalam jangka panjang sentimen ini tidak boleh berkekalan, ia perlu disokong sepanjang masa, kena memperbaharui sentimen dengan mewujudkan sesuatu baharu yang menimbulkan simpati…baru ia boleh hidup, tapi ia tidak boleh wujud selamanya,

 katanya kepada FMT.

Beliau mengulas pengumuman pengurusan Malakat Mall mengenai penutupan premisnya di Cyberjaya 31 Julai ini selepas empat tahun beroperasi.

Malakat Mall dicetuskan ketika kemuncak kempen Buy Muslim First (BMF) yang bermula sekitar awal 2019 oleh kumpulan badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang mengajak pengguna beralih kepada produk keluaran pengusaha dan syarikat Islam-Melayu.

Pengasas Malakat Mall, Mohd Fadzil Hashim, berkata keputusan menamatkan operasi dibuat bagi membolehkan mereka meneroka model perniagaan baharu dengan operasi syarikat turut dikecilkan.

Barjoyai berkata, walaupun terdapat sokongan pengguna terhadap Malakat Mall, realiti semasa dan pasaran bebas membuatkan entiti itu sukar bergerak jauh disebabkan persaingan dengan pasar raya besar bertapak lebih lama.

“Malakat Mall ini dibandingkan dengan pusat beli-belah yang besar, memang tidak terbanding, itu menyebabkannya tidak berjaya. Apa ditawarkan Malakat Mall sangat kecil berbanding apa yang ada di pasaran.

Pelanggan ada semangat tolong orang Islam, Melayu tapi ada hadnya. Adakah memenuhi kehendaknya dari segi perkhidmatan, harga dan barangan ditawarkan. Ini asas dalam membuat pilihan,

 katanya.

Beliau berpandangan, Malakat Mall perlu beralih kepada perniagaan dalam talian dengan mewujudkan platformnya sendiri kerana cara itu mungkin akan lebih berjaya.

Nazari Ismail.

Turut senada Pengerusi Gerakan Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Malaysia, Nazari Ismail yang berkata ia tidak sesuai dijalankan di Malaysia yang mempunyai kepelbagaian etnik dan agama.

Pensyarah Fakulti Perniagaan dan Perakaunan Universiti Malaya itu berkata kempen tersebut juga tidak menggalakkan perpaduan kaum dalam negara.

Katanya, walaupun secara lumrah manusia akan mengutamakan kelompok dan komuniti sendiri namun terdapat beberapa aspek menjadi kekangan untuk tujuan itu.

Dari aspek kesesuaian strategi perniagaan, ia juga boleh menimbulkan kerumitan kepada peniaga untuk mencapai operasi optimal dari aspek kos dan kekesanan,

 katanya. - FMT

Guru disyaki laku amang seksual murid ditahan

 

Polis telah membuka empat kertas siasatan dan suspek direman enam hari sehingga 31 Julai untuk membantu siasatan, kata Ketua Polis Hulu Selangor Ahmad Faizal Tahrim.

KUALA LUMPUR: 

Polis menahan seorang guru lelaki yang disyaki terbabit dalam kes amang seksual terhadap beberapa murid lelaki di sekitar daerah Hulu Selangor.

Ketua Polis Hulu Selangor, Ahmad Faizal Tahrim, berkata tangkapan dibuat ke atas guru pendidikan jasmani berusia lingkungan 30-an itu di Bukit Beruntung, Selangor selepas menerima empat laporan sejak 2.03 pagi hingga 10 pagi semalam berhubung kejadian tersebut.

“Siasatan awal mendapati kejadian pertama membabitkan mangsa yang berusia 12 tahun berlaku sebulan yang lalu.

Antara lokasi kejadian adalah di sebuah inap desa di kawasan Ulu Yam ketika mangsa mewakili daerah Hulu Selangor dalam pertandingan bola sepak,

 katanya dalam kenyataan semalam.

Ahmad Faizal berkata pihaknya membuka empat kertas siasatan terhadap lelaki terbabit mengikut Seksyen 14 (a) Akta Kesalahan Seksual Terhadap Kanak-Kanak 2017.

Katanya, semakan mendapati lelaki terbabit tidak mempunyai rekod jenayah dan direman enam hari sehingga 31 Julai. - FMT

GLC CEO’s ‘massage me’ joke was sexual harassment, says Industrial Court

 

Industrial Court chairman Salahudin Hidayat Shariff said the court need not prove a claim beyond reasonable doubt but only on the balance of probabilities. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

A secretary to the CEO of a government-linked company was driven to resign after her boss uttered several remarks that were tantamount to sexual harassment, ruled the Industrial Court.

In allowing the secretary’s constructive dismissal claim on July 16, court chairman Salahudin Hidayat Shariff said the remarks made included a request that the complainant 

massage

 him.

While witnesses from Construction Labour Exchange Centre Bhd testified that the CEO was joking when he asked her to 

massage

 him, Salahudin maintained that it was still sexual harassment according to the employee’s handbook.

He said that when the complainant’s lawyer showed the witnesses the employees’ guidebook, all of them agreed that it was a form of sexual harassment.

The handbook states: 

Sexual harassment encompasses various conducts of a sexual nature which can manifest themselves in five possible forms, namely verbal harassment in the form of offensive or suggestive remarks, comments, jokes, kidding, teasing, sounds, inquiries or discussions about sexual activities or other verbal abuses.

The CEO is also said to have asked his secretary to book a connecting hotel room or rooms next to each other during a trip; told her over lunch that she could strengthen her current position if she did a 

certain

 thing; and instructed her to sit next to him in his car.

The complainant also claimed she received a love song and several messages from him through WhatsApp, but Salahudin said it could not be proven that the number actually belonged to the CEO.

Though some of the complainant’s claims cannot be proved, he said the court was bound to consider all of the CEO’s deeds as a series of actions that point towards sexual harassment, based on the company’s guidebook.

Salahudin also questioned the company’s decision to transfer the complainant from Kedah to Johor instead of Penang, where it had a branch, after an in-house committee found that her allegations against the CEO were untrue.

The claimant joined the company’s Kedah office as secretary cum personal assistant to the CEO in 2013 and resigned six years later.

The claimant appealed against the transfer and requested to stay in her current office pending the disposal of her complaints against the CEO,

 said Salahudin

“She also asked for a report from the investigation committee that probed her complaints and reported to the company that they were not true.

This means the claimant had lied, in which case the company should have taken disciplinary action against her as she had embarrassed the company with her actions. But they did not.

Probe by GLC’s investigation committee not independent

The court chairman questioned the composition of the investigation committee that heard the claimant’s case, saying it comprised officers from the company who reported to the CEO.

Given that the company was wholly owned by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), he said the presence of at least one director from CIDB would have shown that the probe was transparent and not influenced by the management.

Salahudin also pointed out that the committee’s report contained interviews with officers of the company, but the secretary was not questioned.

The court finds this strange because investigations must be complete before finalising the report. The court finds that the company’s investigations were not independent,

 he said.

He said all these actions had obstructed the claimant from getting justice for her complaints.

Salahudin said the Industrial Court does not need to find that a claim has been proven beyond reasonable doubt, but only on a balance of probabilities.

Based on the evidence and authorities referred to above, this court is of the opinion that the claimant has on a balance of probabilities proven that her constructive dismissal was brought about by sexual harassment,

 he said.

The claimant, who was earning RM5,670 a month when she resigned, was awarded RM158,760, made up of RM136,080 in back wages and RM22,680 in compensation in lieu of reinstatement.

Rasvinder Kaur Sodhi appeared for the claimant while Azam Mohamed and Zahrizal Zakaria represented the GLC. - FMT

Anti-Anwar protest in Tambun not approved, say cops

 

A rally at Seri Perdana in Putrajaya last month by about 150 participants dressed in black made eight demands of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

PETALING JAYA: 

A protest rally against Anwar Ibrahim to be held in Tambun today has not been approved, police said.

Police said the gathering to be held in front of the Tambun parliamentary constituency office tomorrow does not fulfil the conditions set under the Peaceful Assembly Act as the organisers have not received permission from the landowner as required.

The police advise the public not to join the gathering, as it is against the law. Stern action will be taken against those who join it,

 Ipoh police chief Abang Zainal Abidin Abang Ahmad said in a statement last night.

The protest, labelled as 

Mahkamah Rakyat Hukum Anwar

 (the people’s court against Anwar), follows a demonstration last month by about 150 people dressed in black outside the prime minister’s official residence Seri Perdana in Putrajaya.

Rally organisers made eight demands for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, including the return of full diesel subsidies, allowing withdrawals from Employees Provident Funds accounts, and not restricting freedom of speech. - FMT