Middle East peace and the US election

 

Following his near-death experience, Donald Trump chose a running mate who takes ideas seriously. To be sure, JD Vance has adopted a host of different positions over his short career, even attacking Trump before becoming his attack dog.

The Democrats will naturally make the most of these inconsistencies, and Republicans will predictably counter with partisan blasts against vice-president Kamala Harris for her failure to guide a stuttering president Joe Biden down the right path.

But both sides will confront their 

moments of truth

 when forced to clarify their positions on America’s biggest foreign-policy challenges. This will become apparent as Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on July 24.

Although Vance differs from Trump on other matters, both are strong supporters of Netanyahu’s hardline stance, particularly his insistence that Israel must continue its war against Hamas until the group has been eliminated.

Biden and Harris will have a tough time responding to Netanyahu’s speech without their party paying a political price at the polls. While Trump will attract some fragment of the Jewish community that typically votes Democratic, Gallup polls show that millions more Americans – especially Muslims, but also many Jews – oppose Netanyahu’s hardline stance.

Yet many within this cohort are appalled by the Biden administration’s own failure to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. Though they won’t vote for Trump, they may abstain from voting at all, which could make all the difference in swing states.

But the new Iranian president, Masoud Pezeshkian, could also make a decisive difference in moving these alienated voters back into the Democratic column. Pezeshkian, elected following the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May, is very different from his ultra-religious predecessor.

Instead of seeking divine inspiration, he went to medical school and was so outstanding that he served a five-year term as president of the University of Medical Sciences in Tabriz. Between 2001 and 2005, he served as the health minister in the national government before turning to electoral politics and serving as Parliament’s first deputy speaker from 2016 to 2020.

Few leaders anywhere have combined such distinguished careers in academics, public service, and electoral politics. Before his name could appear on the ballot, however, his candidacy had to be approved by the Council of Guardians, dominated by Iran’s religious elite, which has the exclusive constitutional authority to approve candidates’ qualifications.

Over the past 40 years, the council has exercised its prerogative in very different ways, often permitting secularists to run for office. But in 2020, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, used his authority over the council to ensure that Raisi, along with five other religious extremists, monopolised the ballot, making it impossible for voters to take a different path.

This was hardly surprising, since Khamenei was 81 in 2020 and wanted to be certain that the next president would use his influence to guarantee that the next Supreme Leader would continue to embrace his own ultra-orthodox principles.

Raisi’s tragic accident, moreover, led Khamenei, now 85 and near the end of his life, to address the nation on the overriding importance of selecting a super-religious successor who would follow in his footsteps. Against this background, Pezeshkian seemed to have absolutely no chance of gaining a place on the ballot.

But times had changed in the three years since the council’s exclusionary decisions helped the extremist Raisi win the presidency. The turning point came in 2022, when a young woman, Mahsa Amini, died in police custody after being detained for failing to wear a headscarf in public.

The government responded to massive protests throughout the country by killing hundreds of demonstrators. Although the protests waned over the course of 2024, Raisi’s sudden death led the insurgents to threaten the council that they would propel the country to the brink of civil war if religious extremists once again monopolised the ballot.

Faced with this grim prospect, the council gave in and permitted Pezeshkian to run against five leading followers of Khamenei.

Iranians responded to this opportunity by giving the 69-year-old Pezeshkian a decisive victory – by three million votes – over his most formidable religious opponent. Since his triumph, Pezeshkian has been careful to interpret his electoral mandate in a sophisticated fashion.

He has made it clear that, upon Khamenei’s death, he has absolutely no intention of promoting a secularist like himself to serve as Supreme Leader. Instead, he has simply emphasised that the constitution recognises that all Iranians have 

the exalted dignity

 to determine the meaning of their own lives, implying that he will support the selection of any Supreme Leader who, in contrast to Raisi, pledges to uphold this provision.

Even more important for present purposes, he has also issued a remarkable 

Message to the New World,

 published in English in the Tehran Times. In it, Pezeshkian declared that he will 

welcome sincere efforts to alleviate tensions and will reciprocate good-faith with good-faith

.

This suggests a willingness to reduce the threat of nuclear war by opening up Iran’s nuclear facilities for international inspection in exchange for the US reopening its markets to Iran’s producers and consumers.

This offer is precisely what the Biden administration needs to frame a credible response to Netanyahu’s address to Congress. In contrast to the cheers that Americans will hear from Trump and Vance, secretary of state Antony Blinken will be in a position to announce a new approach to peace in the Middle East.

To be sure, Biden and Harris should not express great confidence that preliminary negotiations with Pezeshkian will ultimately lead to an accord that will radically reduce the escalating risk of nuclear war between Israel and Iran. That can happen only if the Harris team manages to win the election in November, and Pezeshkian manages to overcome the resistance of his ultra-religious opponents.

Nevertheless, doesn’t it make sense for Americans to give the administration a chance to achieve this breakthrough, rather than allowing Trump and Vance to squander this opportunity? Harris should put this question to voters.

But they will be able to do so only if Blinken immediately reaches out to Iran and joins Pezeshkian in announcing that their countries will be exploring a new path to peace in the Middle East. - FMT

 

Bruce Ackerman is sterling professor of law and political science at Yale University.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

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