PETALING JAYA MP Maria Chin Abdullah has urged the Government to stop going around town promoting the ‘Malaysia Prihatin’ and ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ slogan and instead, redouble their efforts to help small business owners survive.
Drawing attention to the plight of many small businesses like food operators who are struggling to hire workers to sustain their businesses, Maria pointed out that these business owners are facing an uphill challenge of sourcing for both local and foreign workers.
“Many foreign workers of these small businesses had to return to their home country because local owners are unable to renew their work permits after ten years and they are unable to apply for new work permits,” she said.
Maria went on to ask about the person in charge of the application of new work permits for foreign workers, adding that there is no clear information and guideline to date for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and small business owners to arrange to hire workers for their businesses.
“Is this matter under the purview of the Home Affairs Ministry, the Human Resources Ministry or the Immigration Department? Do they even talk to each other to resolve the problem?” she questioned.
“The Government should stop going around town with slogans like ‘Malaysia Prihatin’ and ‘Keluarga Malaysia’ when they couldn’t care less about thousands of Malaysian small business owners who are struggling to survive.”
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, more than 60% of the jobs in the country are provided by SMEs, who are also the most affected during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Unfortunately, locals are not interested in low-wage jobs in small businesses, and despite the fact that we have increased the monthly minimum wage to RM1,200, the quantum is not sufficient to address the inequalities of wages among Malaysians,” she pointed out.
Furthermore, Maria opined that the country cannot afford to be dependent on low-paying and low-skilled migrant workers to sustain its economy.
Such policy is not sustainable and is also prone to the exploitation of migrant workers and is akin to modern slavery.
In 2017, a World Bank report estimated that there were more than three million foreign workers in Malaysia.
Although the total foreign worker permits plummeted from two million to 1.4 million in 2020, Maria noted that the country has to shift towards creating better job opportunities to allow better wage structures and work environments for both domestic and foreign workers.
“While I welcome the initiative by the Government to extend the Wage Subsidy Programme spending more than RM15 bil to benefit nearly three million people, the quantum is not sufficient to keep the businesses afloat.
“We have to keep our small businesses going to ensure the livelihood of the people.
“With the shrinking median wage of nearly 20% affecting semi-skilled and low-skilled employees, the impact of COVID-19 in terms of unemployment and lower take-home salary, this inevitably contributes to the growing inequalities between the rich and the poor.
“We cannot sit idle and do nothing to address these challenges ahead of us,” she justified. – Sept 22, 2021
