Sweatshops & Anti Sweatshop Movement Assignment

Sweatshops & Anti Sweatshop Movement - Assignment Example This essay discusses that sweatshop workers often labor long hours for very low pay, despite of laws mandating overtime pay or a lowest amount wage. Child labor laws may be debased, or sweatshops may have dangerous materials and situations. Employees may be issued to employer mistreatment without an easy way, if any way, to protect themselves. The anti-sweatshop movement in the U.S. and other developed economies has, in recent years, effort to use consumer boycotts to eliminate sweatshop working conditions and child labor in less developed economies. Unions and college student associations have been leading the drive for sweatshop boycotts. The anti-sweatshop movement acknowledged a great deal of well-liked attention when it was found that Kathie Lee Gifford's garments company had engaged Honduran sweatshop workers to manufacture her line of clothing for Walmart. Roughly 10% of the workers engaged in this task were amid the ages of 13 and 15. A 75-hour workweek was the standard in th ese factories. When this became revealed, Kathie Lee Gifford condemned these sweatshops and affirmed that she was uninformed of the working conditions in these factories. In reaction to the anti-sweatshop movement, several organizations have been formed or have extended their roles to observe working conditions in less urbanized countries. Among the major organizations helping this function are the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), the Fair Labor Association (FLA), Verità ©, and Social Accountability International (SAI).... Critics of sweatshops dispute that the minor gains made by employee of some of these organizations are overshadowed by the negative costs such as poor wages to augment profit margins and that the institutions pay less than the severyday expenses of their workers (Archon Fung, Dara O'Rourke, Charles F. Sabel, 2008 ). Often times, economists are inquired about sweatshops. Individuals often believe that sweatshops are ethically wrong and thus question why they exist. However, they are not ethically wrong. In fact, sweatshops are in reality one of the first optimistic signs of growth for those in developing countries (Raymond C. Miller, 2008). It is difficult to describe a low wage. Americans often gasp at the earnings for which those in developing countries are eager to work. A low wage by American standards does not essentially consider it a low wage. One must evaluate the wage by the standards in the nation in which it is being compensated In the United States; $5 per hour would be de emed an objectionable wage because it is below our minimum wage. Likewise, the citizens of the United States enjoy a privileged standard of living. Those who are measured poor still drive cars and own televisions. However, in other nations this is not the case. In developing countries, the main apprehension is often food and shelter. When the standards of living are so little, the money can go a lot further. Supporting Reasons Sweatshops are also main signs of escalation in developing nations. As more and more of these shops unlock, more and more individuals can locate work. The rivalry for labor will persist to push wages higher. This boost in employment and

The Reading Process Essay Example for Free

The Reading Process Essay When a child is speaking many words and using them as an integral part of his personality, he is ready to read them. In teaching reading to young children, word selection is often the first place where we go wrong. We pull words from thin air and try to put them into the child. Often we make matters worse by putting these strange words into printed context outside the realm of the childs experience and expecting him to readand he cannot. Children can learn to read any word they speak. One of the greatest hoaxes in all of educational pedagogy is that which says that reading vocabulary must be developed in a predeter ¬mined logical sequence. This simply is not the case. Linguists tell us that when a child comes to school he has all the language gear he needs in order to learn reading and all the other skills of lan ¬guage. The trouble is that we do not use his gear. We manufacture artificial systems of language development and methods of teaching reading, and we impose them on children. It is almost as though the child has to learn two languages in order to be able to read-one for communication and one to get through his reading books. More study has been done in the area of reading than in any other area of the elementary school curriculum. This is justifiable because reading is an important skill needed for learning. But it is not the most important method of communication. It is important only to the degree that it communicates. Much confusion exists about this research. It is the sec ¬ond place where we go wrong. We have built up a vast store ¬house of knowledge about reading, but all the needed knowledge is not yet known. And, because there are great gaps in that knowledge, we have turned to the next best source-the opinion of the experts in the reading field. Many experts have advocated their systems of teaching reading, basing them on known truths but filling in the gaps with their own ideas. When gaps in knowledge are filled in with opinions, we often confuse the two. As a result, schools have often adopted a reading system so wholeheartedly that teachers are not permitted to skip one page of a basal reading book or omit one single exercise in the reading manual that accompanies the text. Many teachers have simply become intermediaries, transmitting the ideas of the authors of a basal series to the children and not daring to use their own ideas to teach reading as a communication skill. This course of action takes all the sense out of language skill development and reduces the role of the teacher to that of a pawn. Undoubtedly, no imagination can break through such rigid orthodoxy. Teachers are teaching experts. Their training has made them this. Reading experts can help with a multitude of ideas, but they cannot possibly know the problems of any one teacher with any one group of children. Basal readers and teachers manuals work only if they are tailored to the group of children using them; they can be invaluable when used this way but are almost useless when they are not. Teachers should endeavor to do activities, which relate to the experiential background of the children they are teaching. In fact, doing activities that are foreign to the child’s background is like teaching another language in order to get them to read. Every reading programme needs to take first into account the particular group of children and each child within that group. If this is not the case then the approach is pseudoscientific. Only a teacher can know and understand the needs of the children he or she teaches. If any significant progress is to be made in any reading programme, then the teacher indeed must know his or her children. Reading is most effectively taught when the teacher becomes the source of the plan of the teaching and when he or she is able to make use of the experts books, resources, learning aids, procedures, and ideas to help her devise her own plan for her own particular group of children. Since teaching is a creative role, the teaching of reading must be a creative process. Linguistic research over the past forty years has given us greater insights as to how reading should be taught. Reading is the active process of constructing meaning from words that have been coded in print. Printed and spoken words are meaningful to the young child only to the extent where his field of experience overlaps that of the author of the printed text. The reader learns from a book only if he is able to comprehend the printed symbols and rearrange them into vivid experiences in his mind. A child’s ability to think, to rationalize, and to conceptualize makes it possible for him or her to accept new ideas from a printed page without actually experienc ¬ing the new idea. He or she must however, possess the knowledge of each symbol that helps make up the new idea. Ideally, the teacher would show a picture of an object and, through discus ¬sion, build the understandings necessary to give children a correct visual image of the object. Because of the unusual shape of some words (e. g. kangaroo) chil ¬dren memorized them quickly, but nothing is usually learned until the words take on meaning. The teacher should give the words meaning by using the childrens experiences. Experience combined with the power of imagery will make it possible for children to acquire new understandings, concepts, and learn ¬ings from their reading of each new word. Reading is not word calling; it is getting the meaning of the printed word from the page. The teaching of reading means assisting children to obtain those skills needed to get the meaning of the word from the printed page. However, the gaining of all the skills is of little or no worth without the experience with the words to make them meaningful. This is a basic component to all reading. It should now be clear why young children, before they can really learn to read, must have a wide range of expe ¬riences to which they have attached a multitude of oral symbols. It should be clearly understood too, why the primary program in reading must be loaded with experiences to which children and teachers apply symbolic expression. This will permit the children to be constantly building up new words in their oral vocabulary so that they will be able to read them. The children’s ability to read is a skill or tool that makes it possible for an author to communicate with them. Children read because they are curious about what is on the page. The reading process itself is not sacred. It is what the reading communicates to the child that is crucial. Reading is not the only important means of communication nor is it the best. To assure the successful development of a good primary literacy program, children must have a large background of experiences, the ability to listen well, and a good oral vocabulary that labels their experiences meaningfully. With this background, almost every child can be taught to read, provided, of course, he also has the required intelligence and has no serious physical, so ¬cial, or emotional problem. Teaching reading as a subject rather than a means for communication can be boring and tedious for children. No one reads reading. The child reads something, be they letters, books, poems, stories, newspapers — and he reads with intent. Each reading experience with chil ¬dren should have meaningful content, obvious purpose, and pleas ¬ant associations. The wide socioeconomic and experiential backgrounds of children, combined with their physical development and intellectual ability, will determine the points at which children are able to begin the formal reading process effectively. The teacher is responsible for the continued development of the child as a whole, and to deprive him of a rich variety of experiences so that he may spend time reading from books is the quickest way to insure reading difficulty among children, in both ability and attitude. When a first-grade teacher sees the teaching of reading as her most important objective and allocates a major part of the childs day to reading, she is capitalizing on the exceptional experiences the home and the kindergarten have provided for the child. For, after all, these give meaning to his reading stories, which, at the first grade level, are based on his first-hand home and school ex ¬periences. She may flatter herself on the excellent reading ability of her children and be smug in her knowledge that she can teach any child to read! What she fails to realize is that unless she continues to provide suitable additional experiences in social studies, community contacts, literature, music, and so forth, she is depriving succeeding teachers of their privilege of doing a good job in teaching reading. This explains why, too often, children start out as good readers but experience reading difficulty by the time they reach third grade. They lose meaning in their reading because planned background experience stops when formal read ¬ing begins. Their real first interest in reading lies in their joy at dis ¬covering they can read. To exploit this joy, and to use it for need ¬less repetition, means to soon destroy the only motivation children have.

The Concept Of Sell Then Build

The Concept Of Sell Then Build Housing market play an important role in economy of Malaysia. The demand on housing market increasing year by year since the population of Malaysia is increasing. Undoubtedly, buyers nowadays buy a house is not only for living use, but also for investment use. This criterion causes the housing market become larger than before. In addition, home-buyers who have ability nowadays also require a quality house for their living place. To support the large market, the developers act as a key role to supply the large number of housing needed and high quality houses. Therefore, housing delivery system plays an important role to supply the houses to home-buyers. Currently, there are two important housing delivery system adopted in Malaysia that is STB system and BTS system. The developers in Malaysia had implemented the conventional STB system for many decades, and with this system, developers successful to meet the housing market needed. However, there is no system can be implemented perfectly without any flaws. According to the housing provision performance in five years of Malaysian plan, it shows that the public and private sectors have over-supplying the houses needed by using STB system. Furthermore, the badly performance of supplying the housing have risen during the economic downturn and the abandoned projects occurred in 1980s and early 1990s had make the home-buyers disappointed with this situation. Thus, government had first time introduced build-then-sell (BTS) system to be implemented in 1990 to solve the abandoned housing problem. However, some of the developers claim that BTS system still not feasible to implement in Malaysia housing sector. From developers viewpoint, many considerations need to be considered such as the approval of planning process, financial supports, firm characteristic and others in implementation of a suitable housing delivery system. The Concept of Sell-Then-Build (STB) System In Malaysia, most of the developers prefer to adopt STB system as the housing delivery system in their development. With STB system, the developer is allowed to collect money from potential home-buyers before the houses being constructed. The money collected from home-buyers can use as part of the finances for the development. Therefore, the developers can reduce the bridging finance borrowed from bank or financial institution. Under STB system, house-buyers considered as one of the financiers to a development project since they part-finance the construction cost of the project via individual end-financing obtained from a financial institution (end-financier). On the other hand, the developer may obtain a bridging finance from financial institution (bridge-financier) to bridge-finance the construction costs paid out pending receipt of progressive payment from the end-financiers. There are two main purposes for a pre-sale condition. First, a pre-sale demonstrates a certain level of saleability for the development. With the STB concept, the developers can sell the houses first before they construct the housing projects. Therefore, the developers can estimates the number of houses needed to construct in a housing project. Second, with the pre-sale, it can minimise the bridging finance required to fund the cost of completion in case the developers fails to achieve further sales after the disbursement of the bridging finance(The Association of Banks in Malaysia, 2009). With the STB concept, the developer can minimise the possibility to sustain loss. The Problems Faced by Conventional Sell-Then-Build System STB system had been implemented for four decades in Malaysia and had met the target needed in housing market. However, the implementation of STB system has bring some housing problems which caused by human-being. These problems have caused many home-buyers disappointed with the housing market. Under STB system, the home-buyers face with numerous problems such as defect problems, late delivery, difficulties in getting Certificate Fitness for Occupation (CFO) and land titles approval, and abandoned projects. The latest few years, many home-buyers have complained that the poor quality of houses built by developers. There are many houses built under STB system faced with the bad defects such as walls and floors cracking, foundation sinking, roof leaking, retaining walls collapsing, septic tank not working and pipes blocking (Property Times, 2005). This situation may occur since the money had been collected from home-buyers by developers during construction period. The unethical developers will try to jerry-build the houses to gain more profit. Their irresponsibility behaviour make the bad defects occurred and they escape from the responsibility after they have collect all money. As we know that, under STB system, the un-built houses are sold to potential home-buyers by showing with a model house. However, there is a risk raised since the workmanship and design of actual house unit built by developers may be different with the model house. Additionally, the problem of late delivery of houses is always happened under STB system. Although the developers had promised to complete the houses on the specific date stated in Sales and Purchase (SP) Agreement, but the completion of the houses is always delayed from the date promised (Ng, 2007). This problem is keep occurred and make the home-buyers puzzled. Again, the difficulty to get CFO and land titles approval have make the home-buyers disappointed with the insufficient supply of housing units. The worse housing problem under STB system is the abandoned project. Since the developers can legally sold the un-built houses to home-buyers and collect money from them before construction finish, there is a risk that the developers run away with the money before the houses were completed. National Housing Buyers Association Malaysia (2006) revealed that, the developers abandon their projects when they have sold almost all the houses. The table below had been shown the abandoned project occurred from 1990 until 31st May 2009. From the table 2.1, we can know that, there are 5,484 home-buyers became the victims of abandoned projects. From developers viewpoint, the abandoned projects are only a small number from total housing development projects and not a serious problem. However, the home-buyers as victims need to bear a heavy of money loss and disappointed with the housing market in Malaysia. Over the years, there is insufficient supply of housing units which have affected most home-buyers. Therefore, the government is trying to find a solution to solve these problems. As a result, government had proposed to implement BTS system in Malaysia to avoid these problems raised again and again. The Concept of Build-Then-Sell System The concept of BTS system is definitely different with the concept of STB system. STB system allows the developers to sell the house units before they built and obtain the money from home-buyers to fund construction or secure bridge financing through joint venture arrangements with banks (Nor Aini Yusof, 2009). This may give chance to some developers managed to get away from completing their projects with few financial consequences at the expense of unsuspecting home-buyers. Under STB system, many home-buyers complaints about shoddy workmanship, late delivery of houses and abandoned projects, therefore, the government introduced four initiatives, which include the establishment of a new One Stop Centre (OSC) at local authorities, the Issuance of Certificate of Completion and Compliance (CCC) by professionals is introduced to replace the CFO and BTS system (INTAN, 2007). The concept of BTS system is the developers must complete a housing project before they can sell it to the home-buyers (The Star, 2007). Therefore, the developers cannot collect the money from home-buyers before they complete the housing project under BTS system. The risks of housing development are shared between developers and their lending banks only. Therefore, fewer developers adopt BTS system compared to STB system since only developers with strong financial support are able to implement it. The housing projects that are built and marketed by using BTS system need not comply with the statutory standard SP agreements. As difference with STB system, the BTS system allows the developer does not receive progressive payment from end-financiers as STB system. In order for the development project to work successful, the developer need borrow higher financing from the bridge-financier to finance the project. Hence, the bank has to play an important role by providing bridging finance for the construction costs and this will increase the risk exposure of the financial institution. Generally, the banks prefer to lend loan to individual purchasers in many smaller parcels instead of lending it all to the developer in one parcel. Therefore, it is difficult for the new started companies which do not have necessary track record to convince the bank to provide them with the financing to do it in the new BTS system. It is believed that the new concept will give some impacts on the current financing practices involving the type of financial resources such as end finance and bridge finance, and the parties involved in development project are developers and bankers. It is also believed that the BTS system will leave a great impact on the developers and the whole property industry since there is only the bridging finance to fund the construction activities. In Malaysia, BTS system is not a totally alien system since a few financially strong developers with developments in prime locations have implement the complement BTS system. There are two main types of BTS system, which include complete BTS and partial BTS. The complete BTS is the developer builds the house and sells when completed CCC or CFO, there is no prior agreement as STB system, therefore, the developer entitle to sell at market price at the time of completion. On the other hand, the partial BTS is a housing delivery system which combined both BTS and STB. For partial BTS, the SP agreement is signed before the construction start and developer can collects a certain percentage as initial payment during the SP agreement being signed. The balance of the houses price will be paid after completion with CCC or CFO. The partial BTS can be 10:90, 20:80 or 30:70, the percentage of partial BTS is depend on the developer. The government is more concern to 10:90 BTS compare to other partial BTS. In fact, 10:90 system is still a Sell first then Build model since the houses are still not yet to be build at the time signing of SP agreement. However, if the developer fails to complete the project and cause the abandoned project for whatever reasons, the buyers are protected from any disastrous fallout. This option is introduced by Ministry of Housing and Local Government (MHLG) in which the 10% deposit is paid to the lawyers as down payment upon signing the SP agreement and the sale is locked-in while the balance is payable after the completion of CCC or CFO. The Stakeholders in Build-Then Sell System The word of Stakeholder means that the individuals or groups who are involved or affected either directly or indirectly by a system or program (Atkinson et al, 1997). Hence, the stakeholders of BTS system include individuals or groups whose interests or quality of life affected by the decision to apply BTS. This impacts received by those people either positively or negatively. The stakeholders in BTS system include housing developers, home-buyers, financial institutions, government, professional bodies and social activists. The details of those stakeholders are shown as Table 2.2. Stakeholders Descriptions Developer Developer is an entrepreneur. They can identify the need for a particular property product and is willing to take risk to produce it for a profit. Background of developer may be in building, estate agency, engineering, finance, law, architecture or business management. They are involved in the real process of development. Some of the developers have total responsibility for the management of every stage of a development. Whereas others are given a large amount of responsibility to a project manager, retaining a more strategic policy role. Financial institutions Developers seek a number of funds to secure the full measure of equity return from development projects. Therefore, the financial institution plays an important role to finance the projects. Such financial institutions become active developers in their own right are largely a function of the prevailing general investment climate and the particular performance of the property market. According to Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting, under BTS system, banks need to make some commitment towards providing suitable funding to projects. Professional bodies Architect The architect plays a role to critical to the development process. Architect will translate the concept or idea of developer into a workable and attractive solution. Several major elements in the development process such as the acquisition of planning approval, the design of the building and the control of the building contract are fully concerned by the architect. To conform the developers do not run away with the bridge finance, architect need to prepare a report of development stage by stage to bank for bank to release money. Engineers There are several engineer involve in the construction process of the development project. They working closely with the architect and combine to ensure that the plans are structurally and that the mechanical systems will service the building effectively. The engineers involved in a development projects include structural engineer, geotechnical engineer, mechanical and electrical engineer or building services engineer and environmental engineer. Quantity surveyor The quantity surveyor is in charge with the task of cost analysis and cost control. Quantity surveyor included in the initial design deliberations and financial appraisal. Solicitor The services of a solicitor in the property development process include acquisition through the various stages of planning approval, contracts for construction, to eventual sale or leasing Table 2.2 Stakeholders in Build-Then-Sell System The Issues of Build-Then-Sell System in Malaysia Since there are a large number of abandoned projects caused by the economic downturn and developers financial inadequacy, the government introduced the implementation of BTS system. BTS system has been studied over past two decades. In early 1981, the implementation of the BTS system proposed by the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Association (Zulkilfli Abdul Ghani, 2004). A decade later, Dr. Ting Chew Peh, the then-Minister of Housing and Local Government, called for implementation of BTS in 1991. There are a lot of benefits to implement BTS system compare to STB system. First, when the developer adopts BTS system, the home-buyers have the chance to see built housing units. The home-buyers also can spot the weaknesses of the houses built and the interest of the home-buyers are protected. Home-buyer prefers to gauge quality of the house rather than simply betting on such issues based on a coloured brochure. Since the home-buyers can see the houses first before they decide to buy it, so the quality of the houses built is guaranteed. The government endorsed BTS in 1996 which reflected in the 7th Malaysian Plan in Dewan Rakyat by previous-Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (New Strait Times, 1999). However, this is only a small portion of developers adopt the BTS system. Hence, the government offered incentives to the developers who apply either BTS or 10:90 system. The incentives include the fast-track approval for BTS projects, a waiver of the RM 200,000 deposit for a housing developers license and an exemption from the low-cost house construction quota. There are some affords have been done by government to support BTS system. First, the government has expanding the role of the current OSC. With the existing of OSC, the development applications process become simultaneously and systematically via a committee headed by council presidents and made up of other technical department officers. In addition, the other impetuses include replacing the CFO with professionally issued CCC, drafting of a Building and Common Property Act 2007 to ensure a better maintenance and management of stratified properties and waiving of the license deposit for developers who opt for the BTS system. The incentives offered to developers include the reduction of up to four months for the processing of development proposals and the option for developers to replace the quota to build low-cost homes with medium-cost homes. According to Previous Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Badawi (2007), the approvals for selected projects such as BTS, high impact projects, government and foreign investors would be shorter than other projects. The time taken to approve projects for those selected projects will be slashed from five years to six months. In addition, CCC will replace CFO to avoid delays. However, under the CCC system, certified professionals like architects and engineers are authorized to approve buildings for vacant possession. Although professional will managed the issuance of CCC, the local authorities will continue to monitor the construction to ensure it is done according to regulations. In 2007, the government announced that the implementation of BTS and STB can be adopted parallel at the same time. Since the developer can choose whether to adopt the new BTS concept or the STB concept, therefore only a few developers have taken the governments offered incentives to implement BTS system. The developer prefer STB system rather than BTS system because developers are more familiar with STB system which has been practiced for over 50 years in Malaysia and developers did not want to take risk on the new system. Additionally, most of the developers are still unclear with the application of incentives offered by government. Under the STB system, some professional misconduct was believed to contribute to the housing industrys problems. For instance, a dishonest architect will approve project progress although the specifications do not achieved by developers. Again, many lawyers prepare their documents during the pre-construction stage and will simply walk away if the project has been abandoned. To avoid these problems occurred, most of the professional bodies believed that the BTS or 10:90 system would minimize the industrys problems and help boost the housing industry. Although the BTS concept can protects home-buyers from being stuck in case a development project is abandoned, but it cannot avoid a development project from being abandoned in the first place. The risks of property development would still exist with or without the BTS system. This is because the risks associated with property development may cause by other factors such as increases in project costs, main contractors capacity and regulatory issues which can affect whether the project can be completed or not. According to Datuk Eddy Chen (2007), the immediate past president of REHDA, there is no need to change the BTS system or its 10:90 variant since the abandoned projects are only a small portion of the millions of housing units which successfully built. However, the abandoned houses are no small matter for those home-buyers who need to pay off loans for units they will not see. From a home-buyers viewpoint, they are willing to pay a slightly price for a house as long as they are assured a high-quality house. Many people will be satisfied if they are given the chance to see and examine the completed house before deciding to buy it. Therefore, the home-buyers can accept either the BTS or 10:90 system which can reduce their risk when buying a house. According to Datuk seri Kong Cho Ha (2009), the Housing and Local Government Minister, the full BTS system would not be feasible adopted in Malaysia unless the projects are held in a hot area such as Bandar Utama. In our country, only a small amount of developers have the financial capacity to take the high risk of adopting the BTS system and the few financial institutions willing to finance a BTS project because it is risky. Therefore, it is quite hard to let all stakeholders accept the full BTS system since nobody can promise the sales of the completed houses and the return of projects. Most of the developers and financial institutions are not dare to take the risk especially in this economy downturn period. The Comparison of Planning Approval Process of Build-Then-Sell System and Sell-Then-Build System Nowadays, the approval for application of planning is preceded through OSC which will be more effective and efficient than before. To encourage the developers to implement BTS system, the approval of application of planning will be approve through the fast lane within 4 months. The planning approval will be prior given to the developer who adopts BTS system. If the development located within the location that has local planning, the approval of planning will be obtained within 67 days (2 months and 7 days). Besides, the developer who adopts STB system will obtain the approval of application of planning within 6 months. The time used in the planning approval is differs for BTS and STB system. The flowchart of application for proposal development for BTS system and STB system are shown in Figure 2.1 and Figure 2.2. Figure 2.1 Flowchart of Concurrent Application for Proposal Development within 4 Months (Source: Guidebook Improving the Delivery System Procedure and Process of Development Proposal and Implementation of One-Stop Centre (Second Edition), MHLG) Figure 2.2 Flowchart of Concurrent Application for Proposal Development within 6 Months (Source: Guidebook Improving the Delivery System Procedure and Process of Development Proposal and Implementation of One-Stop Centre (Second Edition), MHLG) A new set of Standard SP Agreements needs to be set up for the 10:90 system. In fact, 10:90 system is a combination of STB system and BTS system. There are no much different from STB system in the development process and the SP Agreements. To a better understanding of the various existing sale transaction and the payment systems for the different types of purchase, Table 2.3 is shown the comparison on the delivery systems. Details Completed Properties Sell-Then-Build System Build-Then-Sell System 10:90 Payment System On the signing of Sale Purchase Agreement Pay 10% of purchase price Pay 10% of Purchase Price None Pay 10% of Purchase Price Waiting period for Completion of Construction Notice of Delivery of Vacant Possession None Within 24 or 36 months or more upon Architects Certification of Completion Within 24 or 36 months or more upon Architects Certification of Completion *Within 24 or 36 months or more upon Architects Certification of Completion Buyer to complete payments 3 months from SPA Date (in normal situation) Progressive payment system in percentage (3rd Schedule) (from first 10% payment or SPA Date) while waiting for completion of construction Full payment of Purchase Price at 24 or 36 months from SPA Date depending on the regulated contract of sale 90% of Purchase Price at 24 or 36 months from SPA Date depending on the regulated contract of sale Waiting period for actual occupation with Certificate of Fitness for Occupation (CFO) None Within 14 days from Vacant Possession or longer depending on Developers architect to procure the issuance of CFO Proposed Vacant Possession with CFO *Proposed Vacant Possession with CFO Waiting period for transfer of individual/strata titles Varies on whether titles have been issued at the time of signing of SPA Varies from developer to developer Proposed Vacant Possession with issuance of titles *Proposed Vacant Possession with issuance of titles Table 2.3 Comparison on the housing delivery system (Source: National Housing Buyers Association) The Advantages of Adoption of Build-Then Sell System To encourage developers adopt BTS system as their housing delivery system, government has offered many incentives for the developers who adopt BTS system. Hence, the developers can enjoy the advantages while adopt the BTS system. In the process of planning approval, the departments involved will give priority to the developers who adopt BTS system. Therefore, the developers that implement BTS system will obtain approval of development faster than the developers who adopt STB system. They can obtain the approval through fast track of four months while the other will obtain the approval in six months. The other incentives offered include option to build medium-low cost or medium cost houses to replace the low cost houses, exemption from RM200,000 of license fee and SPA enable developer to obtain financing. In housing development, the developers are required to build low cost houses which the requirements are differ from state to state. However, the developers who adopt BTS system can replace the low cost houses by medium-low cost houses or medium cost houses. This offer allow the developer earn more money compare with the development which need to build low cost houses. Additionally, the developers are exempted from RM200,000 for license fee if they implement BTS system. Therefore, the developers save RM200,000 and use it to finance the housing project. Most of the developers claim that they are unable to support BTS system because it is hard to borrow money from bank. Therefore, the government introduces 10:90 system which the SP Agreement can be signed before construction stage. With the SP Agreement, the developer can obtain 10% deposits from home-buyers for their development. In fact, the BTS system has bring a lot of advantages to home-buyers. With the implementation of BTS system, the home-buyers can view the complete houses first before they paid the entire payment. Therefore, home-buyers no need to worry the developers run away with the money before complete the houses. Again, the home-buyers are allow to pay the houses price after the houses completed, it is less financial burden to the home-buyers during the construction stage. In BTS development, the SP Agreement gives the legal protection to the home-buyers on price guarantee. Since the developers need to complete the houses before sell to home-buyers, the quality and workmanship of the development will be enhanced. If the quality of houses is bad, the complete houses cannot sell out and the developers will sustain the loss of bad quality houses. In the past, the developers adopt STB system as their housing delivery system and there are many houses had a lot of defects and poor workmanship. Some of the developers are dishonest and use low quality materials to build the houses to earn more money. Under BTS system, if a developer builds a low quality house, the home-buyer can decide do not buy it without sustain any loss. Therefore, the quality of houses will be enhanced under BTS system. In addition, developers are required to be more professional and responsible. Under the implementation of BTS system, only the genuine developers will involve in the development field. Since the developers need to sustain most of the development cost during construction stage under BTS system, therefore incapable developers not dare to adopt BTS system. Hence, only developers who has ability and strong in financial will adopt BTS system to build quality houses for home-buyers. This can make the home-buyers increase their confidence in development sector and the market of property can be increased. The implementation of BTS system can reduce the abandoned projects in Malaysia. The main reason that BTS system can reduce abandoned house is unable developers will not involve in development which adopt BTS system as housing delivery system. In the past, some of the developers are unable to continue the development during construction stage. This situation cause the abandoned houses exist especially during economic downturn period. Moreover, the developers who have no intention of completing their housing projects will be ridded from the housing development which adopt BTS system. The developers only can obtain financial support from financial institution during the construction stage, they have no chance to run away with the payment made by home-buyers. If the developers have no intention to complete the projects, they will lose capital spent in the housing project. The home-buyers no need to worry when they buy a house under BTS system. This is because the developers will build good quality houses and build according to the specifications in the brochure. Additionally, the certificate of fitness is obtained before home-buyers make the payment for the house, therefore they no need to worry about being cheated by developer when they buy the houses under BTS system. Therefore, the BTS system should be implemented without any further delay to protect home-buyers interests and active property market. The Problems Faced in The Implementation of Build-Then-Sell System The BTS system is a new concept in housing delivery system for stakeholders in Malaysia, so there are less implement mechanisms and policies in Malaysia to expedite the implementation of BTS system (Nor Aini Yusof, 2009). Majority of the developers feel that the government is also not very clear with the concept of BTS system because the government has simply introduce the idea of BTS system without prepare a proper mechanisms for implementation of BTS system. For an example, MLHG prepared the guidelines for 10:90 model only, but did not prepare the guidelines for other model. The stakeholders have argued that the government should prepare proper procedures and guidelines for all BTS variants but not only for 10:90 system. Again, the policy makers include the central government, state government and local authorities should cooperate to promote BTS implementation and address administrative and procedural issues to smooth the functioning of BTS system. Moreover, the government offer the incentives for developers who implement full BTS system or 10:90 system only. These incentives will not help to encourage developers to adopt other BTS model and the developers will prefer to adopt STB system under this scenario. Although the government offer the incentives to motivate developers to implement BTS system, however there is negative response to the incentives. The incentives are not attractive enough to influence developers in adopting BTS because the unclear procedures and uncertainty of application process make the developers feel that the incentives were not worth for them to apply. Therefore, the government should address the procedures and application process clearly and offer the incentives to those developers who implement other BTS variant. Another problem faced by developers who adopt BTS system is a proper monitoring system does not exist in Malaysia. Many parties claim th

Palestine Dispute Essay -- essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the control of Palestine shifted from Muslim to Western powers. Britain promised Jews and Zionists the land in Palestine in the form of the Balfour Declaration. However, at the same time, there were already Palestinians living in that land. Even today, there is no correct answer as to who should have rightfully acquired the land; however, the Palestinian Arabs should have cooperated when the Jews immigrated to the Palestine. There are plenty of facts which support both sides. The solution can only be determined through one’s opinion.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Biblical sources, Arabs and Israelites first met in Palestine about 1500 to 500 B.C. This time period recognized the beginning of the tradition of the two peoples’ common patriarchs and the cousinly ties between the offspring of Isaac and the children of Ishmael, the sons of Abraham.(Cohen 1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Before Islam surfaced, the Jews and the Arabs met in the Arabian peninsula. There was actually a very large Jewish population in the Arabian peninsula before the Prophet Muhammed was known. After the Jews were kicked out of Jerusalem by the Romans following the Second Revolt, a large number of Jews went to the northern area of the Arabian peninsula. The settlements of Jews in the Valley of the Villages were important areas for the wandering and nomadic Arabic tribes. The Arabs actually settled near them under their protection, understanding their traditions, customs, and views of religious and social matters. Before Muhammed, some Arabs even accepted the Jewish doctrine of the â€Å"chosen people† and other basic elements of Judaism. (Cohen 2)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However after some time, things started to change. The prophet Muhammed began presenting Islam as a new religion. He even tried converting some Jews into Islam. But when his hopes of winning them over failed, he turned against the Jews. In 626, he attacked the Jewish tribes of Medina and completely destroyed them. This marked the beginning of conflict between the Jews and the Arabs. (Cohen 3) The relationship between the Jews and the Arabs always remained tense. The connection between the two peoples is tense even today. Even with the same enmity, there has been a great deal of change from the beginning of time. An impor... ...o solution to the Arab-Israeli problem. The wars are merely eruptions in the historical encounter that is nothing less than a prolonged war which is doomed to continue until it is resolved in a catastrophic holocaust.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, others actually have a standpoint. Some believe that the Jews really deserved the land in Palestine because it was theirs to begin with. They were forced out of Jerusalem by the Romans. On the other hand, others say that the land is rightfully the Arab’s land. There were Palestinian Arabs who were living there before the Jews were rewarded the land by the British. Why should they give up their land? There is no solution. However, the two peoples could have lived peacefully. The two groups could have lived together if the Arabs had cooperated. If the Arabs already living in the land had not initiated the attacks on the Jews, the two peoples could have eventually learned to live together in one nation. Works Cited Barker, A. J. Arab-Israeli Wars. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1980. Cohen, Aharon. Israel and the Arab World. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1970. Levin, Meyer. The Story of Israel. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1966.

Policy Development Paper

Policy Development Paper Policy Development Paper October 07, 2009 Policy Development Paper This paper will be focused on a terrorism security policy for large events. This paper will also include statistical, factual, and public opinion history information which will support my policy claim. All stake holders such as: politicians, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, correctional officers and administrators, law enforcement officers and administrators, victims, law-abiding citizens, will be included in this paper. Furthermore, their opinions as their opinion relates to my proposed policy and how politics may impact my policy implementation. Additionally, I will provide policy recommendations and the rationale for these recommendations and their impact on contemporary criminal justices issues and globalization. Terrorism is violent acts which is used to create fear or terror. Terrorism is very dangerous because the people who use terrorism which are called terrorist do not fear for their own life therefore, they will not care about anybody else life as well. A terrorist is one that engages in unlawful use or threat of violence against the public as a politically motivated means of attack† (Peace takes Courage, 2009). Another thing about terrorism is that terrorism can come from anyone or any where. Terrorism is man made as well so we must also keep that in mind. All through history, there has been threats made about the security of many nations. The threats that were made and carried out have caused a large scale loss of life, destroyed property, wide spread illness and injury, the displacement of large numbers of people, and lastly economic loss. When a country is harmed by terrorism the loss is great rather the loss is of lives or money. Terrorism is a very scary thing and a very serious thing as well because people who are terrorist do not care about anything but power and if they do not have the power they desire they will do what ever, they want until they get the power they want. The attacks of September 11, 2001 showed everyone in the United States that we were vulnerable to terrorist attacks. As a result of the attacks we have now created a way to fight back nd keep ourselves protected from terrorist. The first thing we did was create the Department of Homeland Security. There are three goals that are to prevent terrorist attacks in the United States. Next, they are to lessen the vulnerability to terrorism. The last goal of the Department of Homeland Security is to minimize the damage from potential attacks and natural disasters. The next thing they did to help keep us protected was create tool that is to keep everyone updated about terrorist threats. The tool is the color coded terrorism risk advisory scale. According to (the Department of Homeland Security) â€Å"this scale was created in 2002, with the idea that it would help notify the American population the probability level of terrorist activity and or threat. For the most part seems that the warning stays at elevated and that many people have come to mock the system. † Another thing that was created because of the terrorist attacks was the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is a set of laws which are suppose to protect us, as a result of September 11, 2001. Another thing about the Patriot Act is that the Patriot Act is a 300 page document. According to (Girl, 2005) â€Å"This is stated in Section 213 of the Patriot Act which allows for the government to delay the notification of search warrants. With the protection of the fourth amendment the authorities are supposed to notify you of the warrant by knocking on the door before entering your home. This does not exist with the Patriot Act. The authorities only need probable cause to search and seize anything within your premises or person. The Patriot Act is good in one way and bad in another way. The next thing that was created as a result of 9/11 is the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA). â€Å"Marked a departure from existing federal catastrophe insurance market policy in several respects† (Lakdawalla, Zanjani, 2005). Terrorism has caused a lot of nations to tighten up on their security which is a good thing because every citizen deserves to feel safe. All of the new se curity we currently have is good because as long as the security is tight we as a nation is safe. Terrorism is all about keeping people scared and feeling unsafe. This new policy will help end that feeling and make everyone feel comfortable. This new policy will be on the federal level because on the federal level more powers can be granted and we need more power when combating terrorism. Here is the policy rules:  · All agencies are to report on a monthly basis to the head quarters.  · When there is a active threat each state must be warned.  · Each state must have some type of security precautions in place.  · All federal agents should be on the watch 24/7. There should be doubled the number of intelligence analysts and also tripled the amount of linguists within the entire agency.  · The agencies should also make sure that the terrorist financing is frozen because with out money their operations will have a very hard time surviving.  · All information must be shared with law enforcement and intelligence partners worldwide because they all need to be informed when t heir lives and their citizens lives are in danger after all that is why we are here in the first place to ensure the safety of everyone. Lastly all agencies should also be on the look out for weapons of mass destructions by getting rid of their weapons they will not have a way to fight back weapons of mass destruction would include guns, bombs, dangerous toxics, missiles, and etc. this policy should be followed because this policy was created to help keep everyone safe. I would first like to say that implementation is the realization of an application, or execution of a plan, idea, model, design, specification, standard, algorithm, or policy. When this policy is about to be implemented politics play a major role because politics will have to approve the policy. Politics will also have to approve funding for this policy without the help of politics my policy will not survive. Politics are needed when ever something has to pass into law. Politics also affect how problems are defined and if they will be on the governmental agenda for action. According to (Dievler, 2009) â€Å"politics also affects the implementation process, not only in terms of coalitions and the media, but through the politics of the administrative or bureaucratic process as well. The next thing that would include the implementation of this policy would be law enforcement officers and administrators. They would be included because local law enforcement officers are needed to help keep the communities under control and to help with law and order. Local law enforcement officers are always needed because their job is to keep everyone safe. They must also enf orce the law therefore they are the perfect candidates to help with my policy. Also the implementation of my policy. If the policy is implemented right there will not be any victims however, if there are some victims then they should follow the rules their government has in place. As well as the law- abiding citizens. If everyone follow procedure then there should not be any problems with the implementation of this policy. The policy which is titled the policy to prevent terrorist attacks was created to help keep everyone safe. This policy was also created to avoid being vulnerable like we were for 9/11. There were not any statistics to help with the implementation of this policy. However, the history of terrorism is a different story. The history of terrorism is very different from terrorism today. In 1944, the terrorists group of Palestine, called the Zionists, were called freedom fighters and if you happened to look in the history there were two Israeli prime ministers, including Menachem begin appearing in wanted posters that said terrorists, reward [this much]. According to (Terrorism- Research, 2009) â€Å"The earliest known organization that exhibited aspects of a modern terrorist organization was the Zealots of Judea. Known to the Romans as sicarii, or dagger-men , they carried on an underground campaign of assassination of Roman occupation forces, as well as any Jews they felt had collaborated with the Romans. Their motive was an uncompromising belief that they could not remain faithful to the dictates of Judaism while living as Roman subjects. † The history of terrorism is very different from the terrorism of today. Also according to (Terrorism- Research, 2009) â€Å"The French Revolution provided the first uses of the words â€Å"Terrorist† and â€Å"Terrorism†. Use of the word â€Å"terrorism† began in 1795 in reference to the Reign of Terror initiated by the Revolutionary government. The agents of the Committee of Public Safety and the National Convention that enforced the policies of â€Å"The Terror† were referred to as ‘Terrorists†. As for public opinion they are all over the place. However, the public is more worried about another terrorist attack more than anything else. Therefore, the public is willing to accept any policy as long as the policy will keep them safe. And because of that politics take advantage mainly because they know that people will make a sacrifice if their safety is in danger. According to (Girl, 2005) â€Å" The events of September 11, 2001 have forever changed the way that we as Americans look at outsiders. We have become skeptical of anyone who is not as we expect them to be. † In short public opinion is driven by fear and if the bigger the fear the more people are terrified. If the terrorist threats are weak the public is not afraid but if the terrorist threats are strong and powerful the public will be very afraid and they will give the terrorist all the power they need. That is the public opinion on terrorism. Now, I will attempt to give policy recommendations and the rationale for these recommendations and their impact on contemporary criminal justices issues and globalization. There are not to many recommendations I can give on policing however, I will try to. One recommendation would be to make a policy that do not harm or rights this is important because our rights are all we have and if they are taken away we will not have anything. Our rights are very important. The next policy recommendation would be to make sure everyone is save safety is very important. Another good policy recommendation would be to create policies that will catch terrorist quicker. As for the first recommendation the rationale is that according to (Girl, 2005) â€Å"There are many violations but one of the most controversial is the violation against our fourth amendment rights. † This recommendation do not interfere with the criminal justice system or globalization. There are not a rationale for the second recommendation and the second recommendation do not effect globalization. There also is not a rationale for the last recommendation as well and the last recommendation do not interfere with the criminal justice and the last recommendation do not effect globalization. Globalization has made way for free trade and business and has communication between various parts of the globe. Therefore, globalization will not have any thing to do with the policy recommendations I have made. In conclusion, I would like to say that terrorism is very bad and very scary as well. Terrorism can cause a lot of damage and harm a lot of people. All major points were talked about in this paper. The policy I created was also included and to me the policy I created was pretty good. Lastly, I discussed the politics a lot more than anything else mainly because politics play a major role in policy making. Well, this concludes my paper I hope you enjoyed reading this paper because I did put a lot of work into this paper. References: Dievler, A. (2009). Politics and Policy Making. Retrieved on: October 08, 2009. From: http://www. pubmedcentral. nih. gov/pagerender. fcgi? artid=1508936&pageindex=1 Girl, M. (2005). Terrorism and Policy. Retrieved on: October 8, 2009. From: http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/14236/terrorism_and_policy. html? cat=37 Lakdawalla, D. , Zanjani, G. (2005). Terrorism insurance policy and the public good. Retrieved on: October 09, 2009. From: http://works. bepress. com/cgi/viewcontent. cgi? article=1032&context=darius_lakdawalla Peace takes Courage. (2009). What is a Terrorist? Retrieved on: October 9, 2009. From: http://www. peacetakescourage. com/terrorist. html Terrorism- Research. (2009). Early history of terrorism. Retrieved on: October 09, 2009. From: http://www. terrorism-research. com/history/early. php

Swot Analysis on the Apparel Industry Essays

Swot Analysis on the Apparel Industry Essays Swot Analysis on the Apparel Industry Paper Swot Analysis on the Apparel Industry Paper Strengths Demand Driven Industry (more than 4000 units for textiles alone) Strong presence in local market Availability of cheaper labor Geographically situated at ideal location (near end users) Most setups are self employed and have simpler management structure Weaknesses Obsolete technology machinery and equipment used for manufacturing Availability of raw material and inconsistent raw material prices Unskilled labor (only 1% workers have certificate / diploma from technical training institutions) Absence of research and development culture Lack of synergies between Govt. support institutions and practical market. Lack of standardization and quality control Non-sophisticated marketing sense. (branding grading) Unorganized vendor base Limited access to information (availability of finance, technological know how Govt. regulations) Energy costs Opportunities Import substitution. Pakistan imports machinery worth approximately US $ 600 million annually for textiles only. Free trade agreements like SAFTA and Pakistan’s recent attempt to get included in ASEAN. Lesser sophisticated African markets. Research and development and reverse engineering Threats Competition from countries like India China, which have more advanced engineering technology base. Lagging in technology, hence producing substandard goods that hamper consumer perception about local engineering products. Non-organized manufacturing and vendor base and unhealthy competition. Uncertainty in inputs costs Allowance of duty free textile machinery. Increasing duties on import of machinery / tools used in manufacturing of textile machinery and parts High dependence on single supplier of raw material i. e. Pakistan steel Non-existence of research and development culture lily to widen technology gap more and more with the passage of time. SWOT ANALYSIS- MAS holding chairman GARMENT INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES Q: Could you provide a SWOT analysis of the garment industry today? A: STRENGTHS: The ‘Sri Lanka’ brand†¦ People understand international business, and adopt ethical and reliable business practices. Manufacturing good-quality products, not providing a sample which is great and the bulk quantity of a different standard. Compliance with health and safety standards. English-language skills in comparison to China, where just a few people may speak English in the entire factory – and if they are not available, you can’t get anything out of them. Well-disciplined, literate and skilled workforce. WEAKNESSES: Being slightly behind other countries in Not having a supply chain and proper textile infrastructure. Not having dedicated zones that provide utilities, such as electricity, at competitive rates. Not having a base for other supply-chain services. No technical and design skills. No proper merchandising skills. OPPORTUNITIES: With pressure on China, lots of buyers, retailers and brands are looking for alternatives to China. Sri Lanka has a tremendous opportunity to position itself as an outstanding alternative in active wear, children’s wear, casual wear and intimate apparel. THREATS: We have to be careful about being competitive internationally – not only in comparison to countries such as India, Vietnam and Indonesia. I believe there is another way of looking at this: we can’t view ourselves in isolation. We have to look at ourselves in relation to the rest of South Asia and see how we can leverage on each other’s strengths to perform well as a region. If we attempt to play in the huge global arena by ourselves, it will be a daunting challenge. Janaka Boteju – Sri Lanka Apparel exporters association Sri Lanka Apparel Industry Strengths Reputation of being a quality apparel manufacturer for the mass market. Compliance with International Labour regulations. Relatively disciplined and skilled labour and a trainable work force. Reputed International Customer base. On-time delivery of standard â€Å"all- season† products. Weaknesses Isolation from trade partners and heavy dependence on local buying agencies. Lack of geographical diversification in terms of its overseas markets. In-sufficient international and bi-lateral trade agreements to support the industry. Increasing cost of labour compared with other countries in the south Asian region Inadequate focus on developing backward integration linkages to support the industry. Non-existence of product design and new product developments. Non-existence of a Sri Lankan brand identity. Low productivity of labour, inefficient use of machinery and manufacturing processes. The relatively high cost of utilities. Opportunities Sri Lanka to become a total service provider for the global apparel industry. Promote Sri Lanka as a socially responsible manufacturer of apparels. Transition to products that require a high labour content. The positive impact of the government’s peace initiative Threats Rapidly changing trends in the retailing industry. The former socialist countries and the East European nation are potential to become major suppliers for the EU Market. Global formation of bi-lateral and multi-lateral trade blocks. New entrants to the industry. Emergence of efficient international shipping hubs in the Asian region.