Migrant workers in Malaysia seek unpaid wages from a supplier to Japanese companies
HANOI, Vietnam — Around 280 Bangladeshi migrant workers in Malaysia are demanding hundreds of thousands of dollars in back wages and other money owed to them after their former employer, a plastic parts supplier to big Japanese companies, closed down.
The workers at Kawaguchi Manufacturing's factory in Port Klang, Malaysia's largest port city, were left stranded when the company withheld their wages for up to eight months before shutting down late last year. The workers have filed complaints in Malaysia and back home in Bangladesh.
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Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
ASEAN Power Grid Integration Seeks Energy Security, Sustainable Growth
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - MAY 26: Petronas Twin Towers are illuminated in the colors of Malaysian ... More Flag during the 46th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on May 26, 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 46th ASEAN Summit kicked off on May 26 in the capital of Malaysia, with greater regional integration and resilience against trade and economic disruptions high on the agenda. (Photo by He Guowei/VCG via Getty Images) At the 46th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 26, 2025, national leaders adopted a bold plan to interconnect and harmonize regional power grids. The plan for ASEAN power grid integration is designed to create an advanced network of electric transmission lines, generators and utilities across Southeast Asia. Under the plan, the area of nearly 700 million people is poised to meet surging energy demand, boost energy security, and achieve affordable, sustainable growth through deeper regional connections and more coordinated energy markets. A long-awaited plan for the ASEAN Power Grid has mostly languished on the shelf since ASEAN member states adopted it in 1997. Currently, the ASEAN member states are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, with Timor-Leste expected to join soon. Now, with Malaysia holding the rotating Chairmanship of ASEAN, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has forged a consensus among the ASEAN member states to move forward with an updated plan to regionally integrate Southeast Asia's power grid. Ibrahim stated at the summit, '[T] Energy security is the main impetus to integrate the power systems of the various Southeast Asian countries through new cross-border interconnections, harmonized grid operational rules, and a regionally integrated energy market and transmission system. Regional grid integration across Southeast Asia presents a timely opportunity to boost economic growth that is more reliable, affordable and equitable for a lower-carbon future. Leaders of ASEAN member states openly endorsed the plan at the summit. The ASEAN Secretariat has mandated the ASEAN Centre for Energy to lead the effort. Most likely, the member states will sign an enhanced memorandum of understanding on grid integration at their next summit in October. At the May 26 summit, the nations endorsed a vision statement: 'ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Future.' The statement covers myriad areas of cooperation. With respect to energy, among other objectives, the member states agreed on Objective 5.2: "Build resilient energy supply and infrastructure and establish coordinated action in safeguarding energy security." To implement this goal, the countries intend to '[e]nhance renewable energy infrastructure and its interconnection to facilitate seamless integration for ASEAN's infrastructure.' They also pledged to '[a]dvance future ASEAN's energy interconnectivity, including in land transmission and sub-sea cables' and to '[p]ool investment to build energy security supporting the development of relevant infrastructure, enhance the power grid, improve cross-border connectivity, and address critical energy demand.' Additional provisions call for improving regional cooperation in other energy areas, particularly natural gas and LNG supply and transportation. First off, the new plan for ASEAN power grid integration will highlight eighteen priority interconnection projects identified in The ASEAN Interconnection Masterplan Study - AIMS III released in 2020 and advanced by ACE last year following the directive of the 41st ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting in Bali, Indonesia in August 2023. These priority interconnection projects, once completed, will achieve greater power grid interconnectivity within the region as a basis to expand multilateral power trading efforts. Eight of the interconnection projects have been implemented so far. The eighteen priority projects under APG are meant to move beyond the one-off, private bilateral cross-border arrangements previously built to create a truly integrated, multilateral power system. Major new transmission corridors considered priorities under the AIMS study include expanded cross-border connections to Singapore from Malaysia and Indonesia, to Thailand from Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, to Malaysia from Indonesia and the Philippines, to Penninsular Malaysia from Sarawak, and within Indonesia to Java from Sumatra and Kalimantan. ASEAN countries are heterogenous in many ways and at divergent levels of economic development. Regional integration can be an efficient way to create regional balance, scaled integration and optimization of the power grid for greater energy security, efficiency and shared prosperity. The Southeast Asian power grid is highly fragmented, with little existing interconnectivity between nations. Even within national borders, grids are not fully integrated. Peninsular Malaysia is separate from Sarawak and Sabah, the Malaysian provinces on Borneo. The Java-Madura-Bali grid in Indonesia would benefit from connections to the grids on Sumatra, Kalimantan (Borneo) and other Indonesian islands. The Philippines Luzon-Visayas system is only minimally connected to islands in southern parts of the nation. Binational connections exist, particularly for exports (especially of hydropower) from Lao PDR to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, but they mainly facilitate direct sales to utilities from private power plants and not multilateral power trading or coordinated utility-to-utility power pools. Malaysia and Thailand lie at the epicenter of a potentially large regional power network, fueled by domestic supply, robust demand, economic growth and geographic proximity to other ASEAN countries. The so-called LTMS link—Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore—would form the basis for a proposed power pool that could subsequently be expanded to Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia. New regional connections to Singapore would also drive the development of power generation and transmission facilities in neighboring Java (Indonesia) and Malaysia and in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, plus proposed subsea connections to Singapore through Peninsular Malaysia or Java from the Malaysian and Indonesian portions of Borneo, and ultimately to the Philippines. A potential subsea cable to import solar power from Australia to Singapore remains on the drawing boards but is outside the scope of the ASEAN Power Grid plan. LUANG PRABANG, LAOS - APRIL 11: Chinese tourists take part in an alms giving ceremony to Buddhist ... More monks on April 11, 2024 in Luang Prabang, Laos. (Photo by) Singapore and Laos illustrate the disparate benefits that regional power grid integration could provide. Singapore relies on imported natural gas to generate electricity (and for its growing LNG trading hub), resulting in power prices significantly higher than in other ASEAN countries. Access to imported power could reduce Singapore's exposure to supply chain risks and volatile gas prices for electricity. Singapore is a wealthy, densely populated city state and net importer of energy with a nominal GDP per capita twenty times higher than the GDP of Laos. Laos has abundant energy resources (for wind and hydropower, in addition to coal) but a relatively sparse population that could benefit from development of a stronger domestic power grid and more exports of energy to neighboring countries. Existing bilateral connections serve to export power from privately-owned power plants in Laos, largely bypassing the local utility. Two Lao power projects show how much has changed over the past decade. They are emblematic of the trend away from coal toward renewables for power generation. In 2016, the Thai-owned and financed Hongsa power plant commenced commercial operations in Laos after more than five years of development and construction. The 1,878 MW coal-fired power plant (co-located with a new lignite mine and dam) was the first utility-scale coal-fired power plant in the country. It exports almost all its power to Thailand, keeping only a small portion for domestic consumption. Total cost of the Hongsa power project (including the dedicated lignite mine and associated infrastructure) was about $4 billion. Like other coal-fired power plants, the Hongsa project has faced criticism for its adverse environmental and health impacts on the local community. This year, almost ten years after Hongsa came online, the first wind farm in Laos and largest wind farm in Southeast Asia—the 600 MW Monsoon Wind Power Project—is about to enter commercial operation to sell power from Laos to EVN, Vietnam's state-owned utility. The project's cross-border double-circuit 500kV transmission line was completed and energized in February 2025, spanning 27 km in Laos and 44 km in Vietnam. Indicative of the trend toward blended finance, the $950 million Monsoon Wind project was financed by loans from the Asian Development Bank alongside the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Export-Import Bank of Thailand, other multilateral development banks and export credit agencies, and a syndicate of commercial banks, partly in reliance on government undertakings from Vietnam and Lao PDR. These two independent power projects a decade apart highlight major transitions in technology and project economics. The cost per kilowatt of installed generating capacity has fallen dramatically with the shift from coal to wind energy in line with global averages. Cross-border power sales under long-term power purchase agreements can attract financing, given sufficient credit support. Sources of financing are becoming more diverse. Yet, the benefits of the Lao power projects like Hongsa and Monsoon with dedicated bilateral transmission lines still largely accrue only to the private owners of the power plants and the Thai or Vietnamese recipients of the power. With true multilateral grid integration in the future, Laos and other host countries could develop projects that are integral to an improved domestic grid, with utility-to-utility export power sales into a regional power pool that aggregates demand over many countries, optimizes power deliveries for grid stability and reliability, and provides economies of scale to lower costs and increase efficiency while spurring domestic growth and equitable development across Southeast Asia. This trend away from new coal-fired power generation is region-wide. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand are pursuing domestic policies that would increase renewable energy and transition away from coal-fired power plants over the next thirty years. Indonesia has revised its near-term goals for renewable energy multiple times since 2019 and remains committed to net-zero power generation by 2060, though it continues to rely on fossil fuels for most of its energy. Vietnam and the Philippines are modernizing their energy systems while completing rural electrification plans and increasing per capita energy use. Vietnam derived more than half of its electricity from hydropower, solar, wind and other renewables as early as 2022. The Philippines has advanced hydropower, geothermal, solar and other renewables ever since pioneering successes with geothermal energy in the 1990s. But the country remains heavily reliant on coal and natural gas for power production. It remains to be seen the degree to which the Philippines, an island chain to the east of most ASEAN countries, could be interconnected with Indonesia, Malaysia or the rest of Southeast Asia. Floating solar panels on water lake in sun light under hazy sky, contributing to the energy ... More transition. If successful, this transition is a big deal for ASEAN nations and a big deal for the world. According to the IEA's Southeast Asia Energy Outlook 2024, the ASEAN region's approximately 4% share of global energy consumption 'is expected to grow significantly, with ASEAN projected to contribute over 25% of global energy demand growth between now and 2035.' The ASEAN member states comprise just under 10% of world population, more than Europe, and today account for 6% of the world's GDP. The International Energy Agency predicts the population of the region will increase from today's 685 million to 745 million by 2035 and then to almost 790 million by 2050. Economic expansion, population growth, and the region's role as a global manufacturing hub will continue to drive electricity demand growth. That explosive economic growth will be energy-intensive and outpace population growth, resulting in higher per capita energy consumption as wealth increases. Typically, energy use per capita rises alongside the rise in GDP. Air conditioning, manufacturing, digital infrastructure (including investments in artificial intelligence, data centers and semi-conductor fabrication), urbanization and EVs drive demand growth in Southeast Asia that outpaces growth in other areas of the world. Regional integration of renewable energy sources and battery energy storage systems would lower the marginal cost of electricity and enhance grid flexibility. It would also help protect manufacturers and electric utilities from commodity price spikes and fuel supply interruptions due to shifting geopolitics, resource depletion or natural disasters. Affordable, secure power can keep the lights on and the skies blue. If the countries of Southeast Asia achieve their plan for ASEAN power grid integration alongside cleaner energy production and increased energy efficiency, the future remains bright.
Forbes
7 hours ago
- Forbes
Global Trade Unions Call For Investigation Into Migrant Worker Abuse In Saudi Arabia, Host Of 2034 World Cup
Migrant workers are seen at a construction site near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 03 March, 2024. (Photo ... More by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images) On Wednesday, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and its African affiliate filed a formal complaint against Saudi Arabia, calling on the International Labour Organization (ILO) to investigate the alleged exploitation - and deaths - of migrant workers in the Arab Kingdom. Earlier on the same day, Saudi Arabia and the ILO renewed their cooperation. 'This next phase of cooperation focuses on practical reforms to strengthen labour market institutions, improve working conditions and expand protections for vulnerable workers,' said ILO director-general Gilbert Houngbo. 'It reflects a shared commitment to advancing labour policies that are aligned with international standards and national priorities.' Houngbo, the former PM of Togo, has repeatedly praised Saudi labor progress in the past, but trade unions disagree with the ILO boss. They called for 'urgent international action and accountability' through the establishment of a 'Commission of Inquiry', which is a powerful tool within the ILO system, serving as a 'quasi-judicial procedure'. ITUC and ITUC Africa pointed to widespread abuses of migrant workers' rights, including examples of workers being forced to work up to 20 hours a day, wafe theft, and even subjected to beatings. 'Workers are being treated as disposable in Saudi Arabia. They leave alive and return in coffins,' said Joel Odigie, General Secretary of ITUC-Africa, in a statement. 'Enough is enough. The world cannot stay silent while migrant workers are enslaved, abused and discarded. This is a defining moment for the international community. The ILO must act.' The ITUC decision follows the complaint of the Building and Wood Workers' International that focused on the violation of freedom of association and representation under article 24 of the ILO Constitution. ITUC Africa previously raised the fate of African migrant workers in Saudi Arabia with FIFA, but last January, soccer's governing body in a letter from its general secretary Mattias Grafstrom rejected a request to monitor the conditions of migrant workers. The Arab Kingdom received the hosting rights to the 2034 tournament, prompting more scrutiny of its labor practices and legal framework. Eleven years ago, ITUC filed a similar complaint but dropped it when Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host nation, promised reforms. It was part of the lengthy buildup to the first global finals in the Middle East that shone a spotlight on the plight of migrant workers who helped transform the Gulf nation. Migrant workers often faced high recruitment fees, passport confiscation, long working hours, heat stress and wage theft. The scale of Saudi Arabia's World Cup preparations will exceed Qatar's with giga-projects all over the Kingdom, including a futuristic, linear city in Neom, eleven new World Cup venues, the Mukaab and an 'aerotropolis'. To realize these projects, Saudi Arabia will rely on millions of migrant workers, mostly hailing from the subcontinent and Africa. They will be subjected to kafala which ties workers to their employers. Kafala dominates the labor market in the Middle East. Qatar's reforms remain deeply contested. Saudi Arabia has already enacted reform on paper and last year, Saudi World Cup organizers assured FIFA they would provide 'equitable wages and decent working and living conditions for all individuals involved in World Cup preparations.' 'This (kafala) system strips workers of their freedom and dignity, silences complaints and grants employers near-total control over their lives,' said ITUC, pointing out that Saudi Arabia 'has shown no real intention to address the situation.' Saudi Arabia has not yet signalled a willingness to engage with NGOs or other rights groups. Unions remain prohibited in Saudi Arabia. However, Saudi government minister Ahmed Al Rajhi said at the 113th International Labour Conference: 'Safeguarding workers rights is one of the initiatives by the Kingdom. It has implemented a wage protection system. We also paid importance to domestic workers who have full rights.' Qatar worked with the ILO, but the UN body's role was controversial, receiving $25 million in funding from the host state to fund the Doha-based office. The Gulf nation pressed the ILO not to investigate abuses. Saudi Arabia's new agreement with the ILO includes the establishment of an ILO office in Riyadh, according to sources close to the UN body. 'If this programme is to be truly transformative for migrant workers, it must among other things fully tackle the core features of the abusive kafala system that leave workers wholly dependent on their employers,' said Iain Byrne, Amnesty International's Head of Economic and Social Justice. 'The fact that global unions filed a formal complaint against the country at the ILO on the very same day as this agreement was signed, speaks volumes of just how far Saudi Arabia still has to go to protect the rights of migrant workers in the country.' Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development has been approached for comment.
CNN
9 hours ago
- CNN
Designing the Serpentine Pavillion is an architect's dream job. Meet the woman behind this year's building
Even on a grey, drizzly morning in London, entering this year's Serpentine Pavilion — the 25th architectural structure to be erected in Kensington Gardens — will bathe you in a warm glow. Packed in between curved wooden beams, translucent honeyed yellow square panels filter the weak sunlight into a more inviting summer afternoon hue. 'I try to work with light,' architect Marina Tabassum told CNN ahead of Friday's public opening. 'On a sunny day, it's glowing. But even when it's not sunny you get to see a softer effect of the light coming through.' Since 2000, the chance to design a public space in the center of London is awarded by the Serpentine Gallery each year to an architect who hasn't built in Britain before. 'London as a global city has a very international exchange with music, fashion and art,' said gallery co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist, who has been working on the project every summer since 2006, in a video call. 'It's an interesting paradox. The UK has produced so many architects who radiate internationally… But has not historically welcomed foreign architects to build (here.).' Tabassum, who founded her own architectural firm in Bangladesh in 2005, is more used to building temporary structures for climate refugees in India than manicured European public spaces. In 2023, she designed flood-proof, flat-pack homes for those living in Bangladesh's river deltas — where heavy riverbank erosion has resulted in entire towns lost to water. The tall, free-standing treehouses were designed to be folded and moved elsewhere by their inhabitants who, because of the area's vulnerability to climate change, live a transitory lifestyle. Impermanence, therefore, is a key part of Tabassum's architectural DNA. 'When I started studying architecture, (my university) was always referencing (architect) Louis Kahn's (Capitol Complex in Dhaka),' she said, referring to National Parliament Building. 'It has a presence which gives you the sense that architecture is here to stay, that it can last for maybe hundreds of years… Once we started working more in the coasts of Bangladesh, in the places where land constantly moves, that's when we realized that architecture doesn't have to be static.' While this might be her first building project in the UK, as well as outside of Bangladesh , according to Tabassum, her familiarity with constructing for the present, rather than forever, is what made the project less daunting. 'The pavilion seemed almost similar (to my previous work),' reflected Tabassum, who has traveled to London several times to see the past structures in person. 'It has a different shape and form, but it actually holds similar values.' Titled 'A Capsule in Time,' Tabassum's pod-shaped shelter is made entirely of wood . In its center stands a semi-mature gingko tree — a rare climate resistant species of flora that can withstand temperatures ranging between -30 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The tree's symbolic defiance is 'the heart and soul of the entire space,' said Tabassum, and will remain in the gardens after the structure is disassembled. The first Serpentine Pavilion was designed by Zaha Hadid — the celebrated Iraqi-British architect and artist who, at the time, had never built in the country, even after three decades of living in the UK. The marquee was intended to be a one-night shelter for a fundraising dinner organized by the gallery, but the unique shape and atmosphere of Hadid's work struck one attendee in particular: former member of parliament and then secretary of state for culture, media and sport, Lord Chris Smith. 'There was a lot of excitement around it,' said Obrist. Smith was able to receive the correct planning permission that enabled the single-use tent to stand for three months. 'Everyone was very surprised by the idea that the pavilion could stay a bit longer,' Obrist added. In the 25 years since then, the Serpentine has platformed celebrated 'starchitects' like Rem Koolhaas to Frank Gehry, as well as giving lesser-known names their big UK break. 'The pavilion in our architectural world is something quite exciting,' said Tabassum, noting that 'for a long time, we (architects) look forward to who will be making it and what will be the design.' For some, it's a gateway to international acclaim and opportunity. Two former pavilion designers have gone on to win Pritzker Prizes — including Liu Jiakun, who took home the honor this year — while others, such as Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, have been awarded RIBA Royal Gold Medals. Many go on to secure prestigious new projects restoring or reimagining global landmarks. 'Initially the pavilion scheme was very much focused on well-known architects who had long careers,' said Obrist. 'It's really exciting now that we can also work with more emerging voices.' While it may seem reductive to draw a straight line from the Serpentine's summertime structures to illustrious, award-winning architectural careers, the pavilion offers up-and-coming talent a powerful springboard to the global stage. At least that is the opinion of Diébédo Francis Kéré, the other pavilion designer that went onto win the Pritzker Prize (and was the first Black architect to receive the honor). The Burkinabé-German designer was celebrated for the geometric, cobalt blue pavilion that he erected in 2017. 'When I was called to do it, I didn't believe it was me,' Kéré said over the phone from Berlin. 'I was not that established when I did the Serpentine pavilion. Yes, I was established with the work that was (built) in Africa, but being recognized internationally — it was because of the Serpentine.' Last year Frida Escobedo, who was the youngest architect to design the pavilion in 2018, was commissioned to help renovate two major institutions — the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Her new wing at the Met, set to open in 2030, will be the first designed by a woman in the museum's 154-year history. Similarly, Lina Ghotmeh, the Lebanese-born, France-based architect behind the 2023 canteen-style pavilion named 'Á Table,' is currently working on revamping the British Museum in London. 'It was a lovely experience,' she told CNN of her Serpentine project from her studio in Paris. '(The pavilion) attracts so many people from different disciplines. Sometimes architecture tends to be an enclosed profession,' said Ghotmeh. 'I think it's really a great way to get architecture closer to the public.' According to Obrist, it's London's running community who are the most appreciative of the space. The sloping, circular ramp of Olafur Eliasson and Kjetil Thorsen's 2007 pavilion (which was compared at the time to a giant spinning top) was 'a jogger's favourite ramp,' said Obrist. 'Gehry was great for stretching,' he added of the 2008 timber theater — whose haphazard wooden roof always appeared on the brink of collapse. After its four-month run, the pavilion is dismantled and carefully stored away — though hopefully not for long. 'The pavilions always find a second life somewhere,' said Obrist, who adds that they are only ever sold for the price of the material and what it costs to build. Chilean architect Smiljan Radić's 2014 futuristic shell-like structure now lives in the English countryside at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, nestled in the gallery's wildflower meadow; while Japanese designer Sou Fujimoto's mesmeric shimmering matrix from 2013 is permanently installed outside the National Art Gallery in Tirana, Albania. Gehry's crumbling wooden creation resides in a vineyard in Aix-en-Provence, and Kéré's work was bought by the Ilham Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Once every pavilion is reinstated — and at least four are privately owned by collectors — Obrist hopes to one day design a map marking their forever homes for tourists and travelers . 'Maybe when (people) are in a different city they can go and visit them, which would be fun.' Tabassum has already begun considering the retirement plan for 'A Capsule in Time.' Her main desire is not so different from that of the many Brits who will be visiting the building this summer: 'I really hope it goes to a place where there is nice sun and a sunny atmosphere,' she told CNN, 'so that it gives you that glowing feeling once you're inside that space.'
