DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng has accepted the challenge set to him by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan to scrutinise and find flaws in the latter’s efforts to overcome the acute shortage of workers in the country.
Saravanan had said on Thursday (Sept 13) that Lim should resign from his party post if he cannot find anything wrong with how the Human Resources Ministry is addressing the workers’ shortage, and if he does, then he (Saravanan) will resign instead.
Saravanan issued this challenge after Lim asked him to resign following the low 12% success rate of foreign workers entering Malaysia to help plug labour shortages.
Lim said Saravanan should not try to “distract attention” by making baseless personal attacks but address the issue by providing facts and figures in response to the concerns raised by employers relating to the severe migrant labour shortage.
“So far, Saravanan has neither answered nor justified his pathetic 12% success rate in getting foreign workers to enter Malaysia,” the former finance minister said in a statement today.
He added: “This is highlighted not by me but by the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), which estimated that only 47,000 foreign workers have entered Malaysia – comprising 12% of the 385,000 approvals since January 2022 for foreign workers’ approved for companies in all industry sectors.”
Lim also panned Saravanan for claiming that he has approved up to 400,000 migrant workers to join the workforce in the country when they cannot enter Malaysia anyway, saying this was “another empty boast by an incompetent minister.”
“Saravanan cannot be so irresponsible as to wash his hands off the labour shortage crisis just because he has given the approvals and his duties end there,” he added.
“He must make sure that his approvals are implemented or else what is the point of giving approvals in the first place?”
“Other critical issues and weaknesses”
The Bagan MP said he will wait for Saravanan to fix a date for the challenge as well as other critical issues and weaknesses that have delayed the speedy recruitment of foreign labour.
He noted that the MPOA previously stated that the palm oil industry needs 120,000 foreign workers, while Malaysia’s electrical and electronic products (E&E) industry needs at least 30,000 workers urgently.
“The severe worker shortage has incurred losses of RM33.5 bil to the plantation sector, glove and auto spare parts industry alone,” Lim added. “Other industries will also record losses of tens of billions of ringgit.
“When are the hundreds of thousand foreign workers promised to come into the country? Such an egregious blunder will adversely impact the investment climate in the country.”
Lim has been going after Saravanan for several weeks now over the current worker shortage.
He has also raised alarm bells over news that Malaysian palm oil planters are letting thousands of tonnes of fruits rot as the third year of a worker shortage is leaving companies unable to increase their harvesting during the peak production season.
He previously spoke about the impact of the labour shortage on mamak restaurants as well, which has seen thousands closing their doors as a result. – Sept 15, 2022
Main photo credit: Reuters
