Latest news with #Twelfth
Borneo Post
6 days ago
- Business
- Borneo Post
SCB seeks court direction over disputed asset sale
SCB is asking the court to determine whether LCIB's liquidators should accept MIE's offer to acquire assets of LCIB and whether they acted in the best interest of all creditors in doing so. KUCHING: Sarawak Cable Berhad (SCB) has filed an application in the High Court of Kuala Lumpur to seek the court's direction over the proposed sale of assets belonging to its former subsidiary Leader Cable Industry Berhad (LCIB). In a filing made through its solicitors Messrs S Ravenesan on May 28, SCB, currently under interim judicial management, is seeking clarity under Sections 461(1) and 486, read together with the Twelfth Schedule of the Companies Act 2016, as well as the inherent jurisdiction of the court. The application centres on a proposed asset sale by LCIB to MIE Industrial Sdn Bhd (MIE), which SCB believes may not serve the best interests of LCIB's creditors or SCB's stakeholders. SCB is asking the court to determine whether LCIB's liquidators should accept MIE's offer to acquire assets of LCIB and whether they acted in the best interest of all creditors in doing so. SCB is also asking the court to determine whether the sale should proceed at all. In the event the court finds that the liquidators did not act in the best interest of creditors, SCB is seeking an order to declare the sale of LCIB's assets to MIE as null and void, including any agreements related to the transaction. The company is also requesting that the cost of the application be paid out of LCIB's assets. On May 7, SCB's board announced plans to take legal action against LCIB's court-appointed liquidators Khoo Siew Kiat and Goh Hua Yang from Messrs Deloitte Restructuring Services PLT. The board had exercised its residual powers, claiming that the disposal of LCIB's assets was prejudicial to SCB and amounted to wilful negligence. Khoo and Goh were appointed as liquidators on May 15, 2024.
Los Angeles Times
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Trump's attack on diversity takes center stage as Boston remembers 1965 Freedom Rally
BOSTON — As a Black teenager growing up in Boston, Wayne Lucas vividly remembers joining some 20,000 people to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak out against the city's segregated school system and the entrenched poverty in poor communities. Lucas was back on the Boston Common this weekend to celebrate the anniversary of what became known as the 1965 Freedom Rally. Sixty years on, he joined others Saturday in calling for continued activism against many of the same injustices and inequities that King fought against, and in blaming President Trump and his administration for current divisions and fears about race and immigration across the country. 'The message was ... that we still have work to do,' said Lucas, 75. 'It was a lot of inspiration by every speaker out there.' The gathering drew several hundred people on a rainy and windy day, conditions similar to those during the 1965 event. It was preceded by a march by a smaller group, mostly along the route taken to the Boston Common 60 years earlier. As many as 125 organizations took part, organizers say. King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, gave a keynote speech, saying he never thought racism would be on the rise again as he sees it today. 'We must quadruple our efforts to create a more just and humane society,' he told the crowd. 'We used to exhibit humanity and civility, but we have chosen temporarily to allow civility to be moved aside. And that is not sustainable, my friends.' He added, 'Today, we've got to find a way to move forward. When everything appears to be being dismantled, it seems to be attempting to break things up. Now, you do have to retreat sometimes. But Dad showed us how to stay on the battlefield, and Mom, throughout their lives. They showed us how to build community.' The gathering was near the site of a 20-foot-high memorial to racial equity, which shows younger King's parents embracing. U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, said the work of 1960s civil rights leaders remains unfinished, with too many people still experiencing racism, poverty and injustice. 'We are living through perilous times,' she said. 'Across the country, we are witnessing ... a dangerous resurgence of white supremacy, of state-sanctioned violence, of economic exploitation, of authoritarian rhetoric.' The original protest march in 1965 brought the civil rights movement to the Northeast, a place Martin Luther King Jr. knew well from his time earning a doctorate in theology from Boston University and serving as assistant minister at the city's Twelfth Baptist Church. It was also the place he met his wife, Coretta Scott King, who earned a degree in music education from the New England Conservatory. In his speech that day, King told the crowd that he returned to Boston not to condemn the city but to encourage its leaders to do better at a time when Black leaders were fighting to desegregate the schools and housing and working to improve economic opportunities for Black residents. He also implored Boston to become a leader that New York, Chicago and other cities could follow in conducting 'the creative experiments in the abolition of ghettos.' 'It would be demagogic and dishonest for me to say that Boston is a Birmingham, or to equate Massachusetts with Mississippi,' he told the crowd. 'But it would be morally irresponsible were I to remain blind to the threat to liberty, the denial of opportunity, and the crippling poverty that we face in some sections of this community.' The Boston rally happened after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and months before the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in August. King and other civil rights leaders had just come off the Selma-to-Montgomery march in Alabama, which culminated in Bloody Sunday on March 7, weeks before the Boston rally. King had also recently led the 1963 Birmingham campaign prompting the end of legalized racial segregation in the Alabama city, and eventually throughout the nation. Saturday's rally came as the Trump administration is waging war on some bedrock civil rights themes — diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government, schools and businesses around the country, including in Massachusetts. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has banned diversity initiatives across the federal government. The administration has launched investigations of colleges — public and private — that it accuses of discriminating against white and Asian students with race-focused admissions programs intended to address historical inequities in access for Black students. The Defense Department at one point temporarily removed training videos recognizing the Tuskegee Airmen and an online biography of Jackie Robinson. In February, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., a champion of racial diversity in the military, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown, in the wake of George Floyd's murder by police in 2020, had spoken publicly about his experiences as a Black man, and was only the second Black general to serve as chairman. The administration has fired diversity officers across government, curtailed some agencies' celebrations of Black History Month and terminated grants and contracts for projects ranging from planting trees in disadvantaged communities to studying achievement gaps in American schools. Martin Luther King III told the Associated Press that the attacks on diversity make little sense, noting, 'We cannot move forward without understanding what happened in the past.' 'It doesn't mean that it's about blaming people. It's not about collective guilt. It's about collective responsibility,' he continued. 'How do we become better? Well, we appreciate everything that helped us to get to where we are. Diversity hasn't hurt the country.' He said opponents of diversity have floated an uninformed narrative that unqualified people of color are taking jobs from qualified white people, when the reality is Black Americans have long been denied the opportunities they deserve. 'I don't know if white people understand this, but Black people are tolerant,' he said. 'From knee-high to a grasshopper, you have to be five times better than your white colleague. And that's how we prepare ourselves. So it's never a matter of unqualified. It's a matter of being excluded.' Imari Paris Jeffries, the president and CEO of Embrace Boston, which along with the city put on the rally, said the event was a chance to remind people that elements of the 'promissory note' the elder King referred to in his 'I Have A Dream' speech remain 'out of reach' for many people. 'We're having a conversation about democracy. This is the promissory note — public education, public housing, public health, access to public art,' Paris Jeffries said. 'All of these things are a part of democracy. Those are the things that are actually being threatened right now.' Casey writes for the Associated Press.
26-04-2025
- Politics
Trump's attack on diversity takes center stage as Boston remembers 1965 Freedom Rally led by MLK
BOSTON -- As a Black teenager growing up in Boston, Wayne Lucas vividly remembers joining some 20,000 people to hear the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speak out against the city's segregated school system and the entrenched poverty in poor communities. Sixty years on, Lucas will be back on the Boston Common on Saturday to celebrate the anniversary of what became known as the 1965 Freedom Rally. This time, though, Lucas expects much of the focus will be on President Donald Trump and concerns that the commander-in-chief is exploiting divisions and fears about race and immigration. 'There's different forms of, how do we say it, racism and also I have to include fascism, what's going on in this country,' said Lucas, a social activist and retired postal worker who was standing on the Boston Common near the site of 20-foot-high (6-meter) memorial to racial equity, 'The Embrace,' where the rally will be held. The rally will be preceded by a march mostly along the route taken to the Boston Common in 1965 and feature up to 125 different organizations. 'People gotta be aware and say something." he continued. 'We can grumble (and) stuff like that, but we need to take part and do something." The original protest rally in 1965 brought the civil rights movement to the Northeast, a place King knew well from his time earning a doctorate in theology from Boston University and serving as assistant minister at the city's Twelfth Baptist Church. It was also the place he met his wife, Coretta Scott King, who earned a degree in music education from the New England Conservatory. In his speech, King told the crowd that he returned to Boston not to condemn the city but to encourage its leaders to do better at a time when Black leaders were fighting to desegregate the schools and housing and working to improve economic opportunities for Black residents. King also implored Boston to become a leader that other cities like New York and Chicago could follow in conducting 'the creative experiments in the abolition of ghettos.' 'It would be demagogic and dishonest for me to say that Boston is a Birmingham, or to equate Massachusetts with Mississippi,' he told the crowd. 'But it would be morally irresponsible were I to remain blind to the threat to liberty, the denial of opportunity, and the crippling poverty that we face in some sections of this community.' The Boston rally happened after President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and months ahead of the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 signed in August. King and other civil rights movement leaders had just come off the Selma to Montgomery march in Alabama, also referred to as Blood Sunday, weeks before the Boston rally. The civil rights icon also was successful in the 1963 Birmingham campaign prompting the end of legalized racial segregation in the Alabama city, and eventually throughout the nation. This time in Boston, King's eldest son, Martin Luther King III, will be the keynote speaker. He and other speakers are expected to touch on some of the same issues that have plagued communities of color for decades including the need for good jobs, decent health care and affordable housing. His visit also comes at a time when the Trump administration is waging war on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in government, schools and businesses around the country, including in Massachusetts. Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has banned diversity initiatives across the federal government. The administration has launched investigations of colleges — public and private — that it accuses of discriminating against white and Asian students with race-conscious admissions programs intended to address historic inequities in access for Black students. The Defense Department at one point temporarily removed training videos recognizing the Tuskegee Airmen and an online biography of Jackie Robinson. In February, Trump fired Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., a champion of racial diversity in the military, as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown, in the wake of Floyd's killing, had spoken publicly about his experiences as a Black man, and was only the second Black general to serve as chairman. The administration has fired diversity officers across government, curtailed some agencies' celebrations of Black History Month and terminated grants and contracts for projects ranging from planting trees in disadvantaged communities to studying achievement gaps in American schools. Trump also wants to force changes at the Smithsonian Institution with an executive order targeting funding for programs that advance 'divisive narratives' and 'improper ideology." The efforts also impact Massachusetts. The state has pushed back against threats from the Trump administration to cut funding if the state doesn't comply with an Education Department order to certify local school systems' compliance with a race-neutral interpretation of civil rights laws. The Museum of African American History in Boston also announced earlier this month that a $500,000 federal grant received last year has been terminated. 'Make no mistake, these efforts are designed to marginalize and destabilize the Museum of African American History, and African American public history institutions like us," the museum wrote in a statement. 'We are all in danger of being erased.' Martin Luther King III told The Associated Press that the attacks on diversity make little sense, noting, 'We cannot move forward without understanding what happened in the past." 'It doesn't mean that it's about blaming people. It's not about collective guilt. It's about collective responsibility,' he continued. 'How do we become better? Well, we appreciate everything that helped us to get to where we are. Diversity hasn't hurt the country.' King said opponents of diversity have floated an uninformed narrative that unqualified people of color are taking jobs from white people, when the reality is they have long been denied opportunities they deserve. 'I don't know if white people understand this, but Black people are tolerant,' he said. 'From knee-high to a grasshopper, you have to be five times better than your white colleague. And that's how we prepare ourselves. So it's never a matter of unqualified, it's a matter of being excluded.' Imari Paris Jeffries, the president and CEO of Embrace Boston, which along with the city is putting on the rally, said the event is a chance to remind people that elements of the 'promissory note' King referred to in his 'I Have A Dream' speech remain "out of reach' for many people. 'We're having a conversation about democracy. This is the promissory note — public education, public housing, public health, access to public art,' Paris Jeffries said. "All of these things are a part of democracy. Those are the things that are actually being threatened right now.'
