Kuala Lampur, Dec. 14 -- The recent exposes on the oppressive living conditions of factory and constructionworkers remind me of a conversation my late grandmother had with my aunt.

My aunt saw one of my cousins (a relatively big kid) beating up another tinier cousin, absolutely trashing the guy. As expected, she (my aunt) scolded him and gave him a "sermon" about non-violence blahblahblah.

Know what my grandmother said? "Aiya, until he himself kena beaten up by a bigger boy he won't change one lah!"

Doesn't that just describe the state of our political economy?

I mean, c'mon, news about some of these factories came out many months ago. The whole world was fully aware that some of these companies had a dodgy record when it came to the ...