‘Cut the politics, help the people’

MTUC calls on both Pakatan and BN to focus on making life better for citizens.

GEORGE TOWN: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) has asked both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat to reduce their politicking so that they can spend more time trying to make life better for citizens.

Penang MTUC Secretary K Veriah said workers, especially those in the blue-collar category, were struggling against rising costs of living and he feared that things were getting worse now that there were clearer signs of an impending global recession.

Veeriah said both BN and Pakatan should focus on better delivery systems and find ways to reduce wastage.

He praised the Pakatan-led Penang government for its welfare programmes and welcomed the federal government’s 1Malaysia Welfare Fund but said these were, at most, stop-gap measures.

He called for “a holistic approach” that would take into consideration input from various stakeholders, including MTUC.

Instead of just focusing on just trying to plug the brain drain, the state and federal governments should also consider re-employing workers forced to retire because they were past 55 years old, he said.

He also called for a revamp of economic policies to ensure that the country is not dependent on imports for such basic commodities as rice, sugar and wheat.

For decades now, Malaysia has had to import many raw food items because its stagnant agriculture sector is unable to meet the demands of a growing population.

The higher import costs are passed on to consumers.

Furthermore, Veeriah said, those with children were dealing with higher costs of education, transport and healthcare.

In Penang, the number one issue is the inability of both the government and private sector to construct affordable housing, he said.

“Workers earning less than RM1,000 cannot afford to buy a home. It is as simple as that. There must be a mechanism in place, with support from both the federal and state governments, to provide affordable housing in both urban and rural areas.”

To compound the misery, Veeriah added, the rise of “medical-tourism” in Penang had had the effect of raising prices of drugs and the rates for consultancy and treatment.

Veeriah also called on the state and federal governments to muster the political will to reduce dependence on foreign workers by reducing reliance on labour-intensive operations in the services, construction, farming and manufacturing sectors.