INDEPENDENT migrant worker rights specialist Andy Hall has been left feeling disappointed, frustrated and betrayed following the refusal of a mainstream Malaysian newspaper to retract an allegation that suggested he was “funded by the West” to launch “malicious attacks” on Top Glove Corp Bhd.
Hall also alleges the article that contained these allegations, which was based on an interview with Top Glove founder Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai, slandered him for his positive involvement in sharing reliable intelligence on systemic forced labour conditions that in part led to the imposition of forced labour sanctions on Top Glove by the US Customs and Border Protection Department (CBP) in July 2020.
Although the article termed these sanctions as “ridiculous”, they still remain active today.
Moreover, the sanctions have clearly spurred positive change to Top Glove’s migrant worker management systems and those of many other gloves companies in Malaysia, resulting in hundreds of millions of ringgit in extortionate recruitment fees and costs being repaid to workers, thus taking tens of thousands of migrant workers in the gloves industry out of situations of systemic forced labour, according to Hall.
For perspective, the CBP has seized another shipment of 68 million latex gloves belonging to Top Glove worth US$690,000 (RM2.85 mil) on Wednesday (May 12) at Port of Kansas, Missouri following allegations that they were made using forced labour.
This follows a similar seizure of 3.97 million gloves worth US$518,000 (RM2.13 mil) at Cleveland, Ohio on March 29.
The article which Hall claimed as “controversial beyond doubt” appeared in The Star on May 2 under the heading “Top Glove Rides Storms with Confidence”.
It followed just a day after the publication in the same newspaper of a full-page spread on Top Glove in which Hall – who reluctantly agreed to be quoted given the full article – had positively praised the company’s progress in tackling its systemic forced labour challenges.
It is learnt that the article headlined “Top Glove Leads the Way in Workers’ Welfare” alongside a filler article with the heading “Setting the Benchmark as a Responsible Corporate Citizen” were paid for. Both articles appeared without a byline on the May 1 print and online version of The Star.
When the dispute arose, Top Glove insisted in response to Hall’s demand for an investigation that the May 2 article was not paid for by the world’s largest glove maker.
It pains the heart
At Hall’s request, The Star published a clarification on May 5 stating that the statement “malicious attacks on Top Glove last year” in the May 2 article was based on “the senior journalist’s research and professional analysis and was not made by Top Glove in reference to anyone or any company”.
However, Hall remained suspicious of the truth of this assertion “given the tone of the comments made by a journalist not familiar with this area of work matched exactly with the tone of public statements made in the past by the Top Glove founder”.
Over several months in 2020, Hall said he has been referred to “as a saboteur, mafia activist and an irresponsible actor intent on destroying the reputation and economic interests of Top Glove, the Malaysian rubber gloves industry and Malaysia”.
While disturbed by these defamatory and libellous comments in the past about which he had sought legal advice, Hall had finally decided to ignore them at the time given his limited funds and resources to pursue legal action, and his desire instead to stay focused on the success of his campaigning.
But as he was still offended by the sensitive nature of the phrase “funded by the West” used in the article, he then pushed further and sought The Star’s goodwill – and Top Glove’s cooperation – to publish his own side of the story.
However, Hall claimed that the newspaper was not eager to cooperate while Top Glove distanced itself from the matter entirely.
Both the newspaper and the company had stated to Hall – in e-mails sighted by FocusM – that they wanted to remain ‘neutral’ and that they respected both the journalist and Hall’s freedom of expression.
Hence, the issue was left “unsatisfactorily unresolved”, in Hall’s opinion, and that his reputation has been greatly damaged.
“I was expecting Top Glove to step in to clear the air alongside me on this issue given this resulted from their poorly considered PR strategy, their seemingly close relationship with The Star and given their apparent genuine commitment to our developing and innovative relationship of engagement,” lamented Hall.
At public webinars organised by Top Glove in recent weeks, Wall had stated that he considered himself as a ‘critical friend’ of the glove maker by explicitly acknowledged the company’s positive improvements forward and wanting to support them to excel as Malaysian leaders in the field of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) issues.
After all, Top Glove has announced 2021 as its “Year of ESG”.
However, several weeks after this saga which is hopefully drawing to a close, Hall has cooled down and decided he will not allow this incident to prevent him from fulfilling his role as an independent and voluntary critical friend to Top Glove.
That is despite him cancelling his Top Glove-sponsored trip to Malaysia which he said would be impractical at this stage anyway given then COVID-19 lockdown.
“My aim has always been to work independently and voluntarily to benefit workers and ensure genuine change to their living and work conditions, both in Top Glove and more importantly across the whole Malaysian gloves industry and beyond,” he enthused.
“Nevertheless, this whole poor PR episode has certainly damaged the limited trust I’ve started to develop with the company’s leadership, and hence has unhelpfully moved back the engagement in the wrong direction for some time to come.” – May 14, 2021
Photo credit: Bangkok Post
