SUNDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER 2012
BOOK TITLETHE UNTOLD STORY
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Thank you Chairperson.
I wish you all a very good morning and warmly welcome each one of you to this book launching programme. It is also a great pleasure to have distinguished professional as panel members here today, their presence and participation in this book launching ceremony would make a profound, and meaningful impact in the annals of history.
First and foremost, I on behalf of the organising committee involved in the launching this Book would like to thank the Chairman of the organising committee Bro. M.B Patrick, and fellow committee members, for their passion, painstaking labour, man-hours devoted in the production of this book demands a round of applause. Firstly, deciding to write the memoirs of the lives, struggle and tribulations and final conquest of the working class people and their destiny needs tremendous energy, journalistic creativity and patience, apparently, this is not an easy assignment to deal with, it was indeed a monumental task like ascending Mt. Everest. A collective mass of creative knowledge has gone into the drafting of the manuscript, data’s, documentary evidence, pictorial images needed to be collected and it took almost five years to complete this book. Besides, the Chairman is assigned with the task of editorial ship, compiling all the manuscripts from fellow co-authors, our late Sdra. Anthonysamy Lazaar, Sdra. Enjothy, Sdra. Alfred and Sdri. Maureen, and forwarding the final manuscript to the printers for printing. It was indeed a monumental task to produce this book and today it is a reality that this book, Titled as ‘STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE – BESTCAN WORKERS: THE UNTOLD STORY” is finally manifested into a book ready to be launched. This book is the collective work of painstaking layman scholarship consciously aimed at a wide readership. This classic biography looks in details at the mechanism between labour and capital, State with their absolute autonomy and control over industrial or urban workers, the continued denial of a decent wage, collective bargaining and security of employment and gender discrimination continued to puzzle and create a vacuum in the lives of innocent workers. In reality, there seems to be no liberation from the oppression of the capitalist based economy as the authors of this book are trying to demonstrate the hidden agenda of the political eunuchs – Alas! But workers’ rights are Human Rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution, yet why must the workers who are revered as the pillars of this beloved nation of ours endure extreme discrimination and oppression for want of a decent living and dignity? This book speaks volumes of aggressions and brutality and the arbitrary imposition of oppressive laws assisted by lunatic uniformed personnel ever ready to conduct an arrest on unsuspecting innocence workers just to serve their grand-masters, and despite such defeating circumstances, and threats, the workers did not despair neither surrender but stood united and finally triumphed – this book stands as a testimony to their struggle for justice and solidarity – the “UNTOLD STORY’.
In conclusion,
This book is a small collection of events, struggles, tribulations and conquest, by a few dedicated workers activist at the Bestcan factory in Jelapang, Ipoh, Perak, who went out the extra mile to unite the workers to form a union without fear or favour, with the hope that the future generation would have a much better wage structure and working conditions.
The purpose of this book is to trace into the history of labour, and its numerous struggles for a decent wage and human endurance; it is an art of sharing their agony, suffering and conquest. Besides, this book can be used as a reference book by scholars, workers, trade union activists, who are interested in the history of the struggle of the labour movement, and I sincerely believe that this book may be of benefit to them for their research work. Further, this book would also inspire young workers to better equip themselves against oppression.
In line with that, I’d like to share a very memorable quote from Martin Luther King Jr., “History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.” So don’t be afraid to speak up even if you are not that articulate. I know it takes a lot, may be tons of courage, enough courage, to voice out your opinion and express yourself. But courage doesn’t always roar, people. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I will try again tomorrow.”
With that, I once again thank the organizing committee Chairman for giving me an opportunity to say some meaningful words about the book, it was a great honour and I enjoyed it. Thank you.
Arjunan A
Social Activist/Unionist
Speech delivered at the launching of the book.
