REMEMBER an old joke attributed to the legendary late former MIC President Tun Samy Vellu? The joke goes like this.
During a science conference, a delegate from China took to the podium to announce that by the year 2030, China was going to land a person on the moon.
Not to be outdone, an American delegate took to the podium next to announce that by 2030, the US was going to have a person living on the moon.
The third person to take the stage was our very own Malaysian hero Tun Samy Vellu. Never one to shy away from a challenge and eager to put Malaysia on the map – in a spur of the moment – he claimed “by the year 2030, Malaysia will land a person on the sun!”
The entire conference fell silent. The first person to break the silence was a reporter who asked Samy Vellu, “But Tun, isn’t the sun hot?”
Never to be at a loss for words, Samy Vellu immediately quipped, “Aha! That is why we shall land him at night!”
While the Samy Velu and the landing on the sun joke is most certainly a fictional account, a similar joke that Human Resource Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong made recently was an entirely serious affair.
When asked by a news portal as to when Malaysians will be able to work for four days a week or work more days from home as their Singaporean counterparts can already do so come Dec 1 this year, Sim – in a manner that would make even the late Samy Vellu blush – replied that Malaysia has been doing what Singapore is only now planning to do later this year since 1955!
Imagine this. According to the Bukit Mertajam MP, Malaysians have had the right to work four days a week and work more days from home since 1955 even before we became an independent nation!
Out-of-this world argument
In a post on X, Sim explained that workers can apply to their employers for flexible working arrangements based on time, days, and location of work according to Sections 60P and 60Q of the Employment Act 1955.
Di Malaysia, S60P & S60Q Akta Kerja 1955 membenarkan pekerja memohon aturan kerja anjal (flexible working arrangement) berdasarkan masa, hari dan lokasi bekerja. Majikan harus memberi maklum balas dlm 60 hari, jika ditolak, harus diberikan sebab penolakan.
KESUMA akan sentiasa… https://t.co/8pYLSICxoe pic.twitter.com/TJvMy7r8Cv
— Steven Sim 🇲🇾 (@scheekeong) April 17, 2024
Such requests should be submitted to employers for feedback within 60 days – and if rejected – employers must provide the reasons.
Well, there you are, dear friends. Tomorrow, you can all sashay into your office, tell your manager or boss that you want to work only four days a week and that too, mostly from home – and in around two months – your wishes shall be granted.
Supposedly, all Malaysian workers have always had this right. None of us or our fathers and grandfathers knew about it because we are all that ignorant.
Now thanks to Sim’s reminder, we will all be able to have a better work-life balance – even before Singapore has it. Unlike a Samy Vellu joke, Sim is entirely serious about his claim.
Despite self-evidently not being able to stand the test of experience in real life, he insists that we should all believe him rather than believe the reality of our lives.
With ministers like this, the country really does not need enemies. If the Sulu Sultanate could just get more people like Sim to become Malaysia’s minister, it wouldn’t even have to invade the country in the future; our ministers themselves will hand the country to it on a silver platter.
It still boggles my mind how DAP can proudly claim that it is a party for Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT) when the person that it can deliver for the job of a Minister is the likes of Lim Guan Eng (party chairman) or Sim (DAP’s national organising secretary and presently the youngest Cabinet minister at 42).
If this is the sort of competency that we can expect from accountability and transparency – for heaven’s sake – let us not be transparent or accountable at all. We are doomed if this is all that transparency and accountability can get us.
It is a good thing that Samy Vellu passed away last year because if he was still alive, listening to Sim would have made him die of shock. – April 23, 2024
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is a roving tutor who loves politics, philosophy and psychology.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
