Capitalist System Not On Our Side Over 60 Groups Issue 51 Demands

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Over 60 organisations have come together on Labour Day to issue 51 demands across 11 categories for the government.
ADSHitting out at the one-sided capitalist system, their demands include an RM2,000 minimum wage, universal basic income, and pensions.
"Dear workers, we need to realise that this capitalist system is not on our side.
"This system accumulates wealth in the hands of capitalists and elites at the expense of the well-being of the common people, national and world peace, environmental sustainability and many others," they said in a statement.
The organisations include PSM, various student groups from local universities, environmental groups, women's groups, and workers’ groups.
In calling for workers’ rights to be upheld, they also urged the government to enact the Gig Workers Bill, expand the Employment Insurance System, and improve recognition of trade unions.
They called on the government to eliminate the contract work system and implement more employment schemes for disabled people as well.
Bump up health budget
Under the healthcare category, the groups demanded an increase in the government’s annual national budget for the sector to five percent of the country's gross domestic product over the next 10 years.
"The government should focus efforts on improving the quality of health services by methods such as building more government hospitals with complete facilities in major cities, increasing the number of public health personnel, creating a fair salary structure and better working conditions for all public health personnel so that they can continue to serve enthusiastically," they said.
The expansion of the private healthcare sector should also be halted by freezing the construction of profit-oriented private hospitals, the groups added.
On the housing issue, they demanded against forced evictions, saying that alternative housing must be provided before relocations.
They also called for the enactment of an Estate Housing Scheme Act.
ADSAs for human rights, they said the government should enact a Gender Equality Act, and repeal any laws and policies that support gender discrimination.
Other categories
For the environment, the groups sought a declaration of a climate emergency and said the government must expedite a national adaptation plan for the ongoing climate crisis.
"(The government must provide) allocations to improve facilities and capacity within communities, especially for marginalised communities, to be prepared to face the threat of climate crisis impacts such as sea level rise, floods, droughts, heat waves and others."
The government should also oppose the Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage Bill 2025, they added, calling it a "false climate solution" as it is ineffective in reducing carbon emissions and also removes land rights from local communities.
They went on to say that local farmers must be given land grants as part of efforts to create sustainable food security for the country.
The statement touched on artificial intelligence as well, with the organisations saying the use of the technology must be ethical.
"The government needs to ensure that work and copyright are not misused by AI technology.
"An amendment to the Copyright Act 1987 is needed to protect the fate of professionals if local and global AI companies are suspected of using their work without consent as training data (training model) for Large Learning Machine algorithms and so on," they said.
They pointed out that decent wages must be provided for jobs that are difficult to automate and important for national development.
These include environmentally important jobs, work in the agricultural sector, social work, construction and maintenance of health infrastructure, they added.
- Mkini

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