Traveling to Penang was as educational as it was reviving. It was good to get out of KL for the weekend! Last weekend I traveled to Penang which is about a 4 hour drive north of Kuala Lumpur. Leaving shortly after 5pm, the four of us loaded a little Malaysian-made Proton that reminds me of an older Nissan Sentra . Headed to Penang for meetings were the fearless leader and E.D. of BPSOS, Dr. Thang, the Human Rights Director Phong,
Country Manager for Malaysia Daniel, and an intern – me. Discussions that were probably too deep to call “road-trip” worthy were had. What was the best way to structure an NGO? How does an NGO recruit the best staff? Can a non-profit run on a business model? If an NGO exists to fill a market failure, how can it be run on a business model? What will it take for the non-profit world to recruit the best and the brightest? What constitutes an adequate measuring tool to evaluate an NGO’s output? Who gets to place that value? It was four hours of bliss!
From the flat and hot KL we
drove through miles and miles of Palms and Daniel carefully explained the Palm Oil industry and its current economic regional threats. Moving further north, the limestone mountains were reminiscent of “Avatar” , spontaneously jutting forth from the horizon. Quarries dotted the roadside, and Daniel further explained the much politicized sand-mining occurring in Malaysia, while Singapore uses it to literally expand its city-
state.
Penang was a step into history. Colonial-style buildings sporting old, worn shudders on the second floor dotted streets that housed banks and side-street vendors. Situated on the sea, Penang was cooler than KL and has a much welcomed fresh aroma.
And, for all the above romanticized memories of Penang, it held the typical ugliness and discouragement that I
am growing accustomed to, rather than surprised with. Trafficking and labor rights, in such an industrial zone, is a an enormous problem Penang faces. Malaysia’s most northern developed city, it houses a large population of migrants (both legal and illegal) in search for work. Meeting with 3 separate migrant groups, it was not difficult to find factors of exploitation and legal abuses. I am sure it is not healthy, but I have come to expect illegal labor activity and exploitation
, instead of being surprised from it. The question I now ask myself is much different. “Is this just labor rights violations, or do we have a case of trafficking and labor exploitation?”
That said – the fight for equality must continue. We must, as a global humanity, seek justice. Justice can be found, if we search for it. Justice can be found if we champion it. Justice can be found if we declare that we will take no less.
