Indian 'mandors' not the real problem
COMMENT | The Malaysian Indian People's Party (MIPP) deputy president S Subramaniam has suggested that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim head the Indian Community Action Committee (ICAC) rather than appointing Indian 'mandors' from PKR or the Pakatan Harapan-led coalition.
The British planters used the 'mandor' system during the colonial period, in which Indian 'mandors' or supervisors were appointed to manage the labour affairs.
The 'mandors' might be South Indian Tamil, but they took instructions from the white managers in managing labour affairs in the plantations.
Unlike the Chinese 'kepala' who had the material interest of Chinese labour, the Indian 'mandors' functioned on behalf of the plantation bosses.
My book on plantation labour describes in detail why...
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
28 minutes ago
- The Sun
Russia warns against possible U.S. nuclear use in Iran
MOSCOW: Potential use of tactical nuclear weapons by the United States in Iran would be a catastrophic development, Russian state news agency TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Friday. Peskov was commenting on what he called speculative media reports about that possibility. His comments, as reported by TASS, did not mention any media by name. The Guardian newspaper reported that U.S. defence officials were briefed that using conventional bombs against Iran's underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordow would not be enough to destroy it completely, and that destroying it would require initial attacks with conventional bombs and then dropping a tactical nuclear weapon from a B-2 bomber. However, the British newspaper said President Donald Trump was not considering using a tactical nuclear weapon on Fordow and the possibility was not presented by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, in meetings in the White House Situation Room. Trump said on Thursday that any decision on potential U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict would be made within two weeks. Russia, which has close ties with Iran, has warned strongly against U.S. military intervention on the side of Israel.
The Sun
28 minutes ago
- The Sun
Countries evacuating citizens from Iran and Israel
COUNTRIES around the world are taking measures to evacuate their citizens from Israel and Iran as the two nations enter the seventh day of their air war and airspace in the region remains closed. A week of Israeli air and missile strikes against its major rival has wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command, damaged its nuclear capabilities and killed hundreds of people, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have killed at least two dozen civilians in Israel. Here are some of the countries whose citizens have left: AUSTRALIA The Australian government evacuated by land a small group of the 1,200 Australians seeking to leave Israel on Wednesday, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Thursday. Around 2,000 Australians in Iran have registered for assistance. AUSTRIA 48 Austrians have left Israel or neighboring Jordan, out of the 200 who reported to the Tel Aviv embassy, the Foreign Ministry said. Around 100 Austrians have requested to leave Iran. 44 Austrian and EU citizens have been evacuated towards Turkey and Armenia, it added. BULGARI Bulgaria has evacuated 17 diplomats and their families from Iran to Azerbaijan and will repatriate them by land and air, the Bulgarian government said. An administration at the Bulgarian embassy in Tehran is moving temporarily to Baku. CHINA China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and hundreds more from Israel, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. Several thousand Chinese nationals are thought to reside in Iran, according to state media reports. CZECH REPUBLIC A flight with 66 people evacuated from Israel had landed near Prague, Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova said. FRANCE France will arrange a convoy by the end of the week from Iran to the Turkish or Armenian borders, French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Thursday. French citizens in Israel can board buses starting Friday morning from the Jordanian border, with a flight chartered from Amman, Barrot said. GERMANY 345 German citizens have left the Middle East region, the foreign ministry said, after the country provided charter flights to Germany. GREECE Greece has evacuated 16 nationals and their families by land from Iran to Azerbaijan and is now working on their repatriation to Greece, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. INDIA India said on Wednesday it has launched 'Operation Sindhu' to evacuate Indian nationals from Iran. 110 Indian students have been evacuated from northern Iran into Armenia on June 17, India's foreign ministry said. ITALY Italy is organizing a charter flight from Egypt on June 22 to allow its citizens to leave Israel if they want to. 29 of the about 500 Italian nationals leaving in Iran already left the country on Wednesday with assistance from the government, a diplomatic source said. JAPAN Japan's government said on Thursday it would send two Self-Defense Forces transport aircraft to Djibouti in preparation for the evacuation of Japanese nationals from Iran and Israel. Japanese embassies in Israel and Iran are preparing to evacuate citizens to neighbouring countries by bus as early as Thursday. NEW ZEALAND New Zealand temporarily closed its Tehran embassy and evacuated two staff and their families by land to Azerbaijan. POLAND A group of Polish citizens evacuated from Iran landed in Warsaw on Thursday morning, ending the evacuation from the country, the Foreign Ministry said. The first plane evacuated from Israel landed in Warsaw on Wednesday morning and a second one is expected on Thursday afternoon from Amman, with 65 people on board. PORTUGAL Portugal has temporarily shut its embassy in Iran and evacuated four of its citizens via Azerbaijan. It has received 130 repatriation requests from citizens in Israel and is organising a repatriation flight, expected to land in Portugal later on Thursday, the foreign ministry said. SERBIA A group of 100 Serbs have fled Israel via Egypt, ambassador Miroljub Petrovic said on Thursday. SIERRA LEONE 36 citizens were evacuated to Armenia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. SLOVAKIA The first evacuation flight with 73 people, 25 tourists and five family members of Slovak diplomats working in Tel Aviv arrived in Bratislava on Monday, Slovak authorities said. The foreign ministry said on Friday it would temporarily close its embassy in Tehran and was fully evacuating staff from the country. SOUTH KOREA Eighteen South Korean nationals and two of their family members who are Iranian nationals were evacuated by land from Iran, South Korea's foreign ministry said. TAIWAN 36 Taiwanese have been evacuated from Israel via the land crossing with Jordan, while three Taiwanese have left Iran via the land border with Turkey, Taiwan's foreign ministry said. UNITED STATES The United States is working to evacuate U.S. citizens wishing to leave Israel by arranging flights and cruise ship departures, U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee said in a post on X on Wednesday. VIETNAM Vietnam's foreign ministry told its citizens in Israel and Iran to get ready for evacuation and 18 Vietnamese citizens have already been evacuated from Iran.
The Sun
28 minutes ago
- The Sun
Russia says any use of tactical nuclear weapons by US in Iran would be catastrophic, TASS reports
MOSCOW: Potential use of tactical nuclear weapons by the United States in Iran would be a catastrophic development, Russian state news agency TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying on Friday. Peskov was commenting on what he called speculative media reports about that possibility. His comments, as reported by TASS, did not mention any media by name. The Guardian newspaper reported that U.S. defence officials were briefed that using conventional bombs against Iran's underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordow would not be enough to destroy it completely, and that destroying it would require initial attacks with conventional bombs and then dropping a tactical nuclear weapon from a B-2 bomber. However, the British newspaper said President Donald Trump was not considering using a tactical nuclear weapon on Fordow and the possibility was not presented by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, in meetings in the White House Situation Room. Trump said on Thursday that any decision on potential U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict would be made within two weeks. Russia, which has close ties with Iran, has warned strongly against U.S. military intervention on the side of Israel.
