Stop subsidising cheap foreign labour

For years, local workers have sacrificied their lifestyle so that employers could reap higher profits.

PETALING JAYA: An independent financial research group has urged the government to remove corporate subsidies in the upcoming Budget 2012, particularly those involving cheap foreign labour.

Research for Social Advancement (Refsa) executive director Teh Chi-Chang said that local workers have sacrificed decent jobs, housing and lifestyle for years so that corporations can enjoy higher profits by employing cheap foreign labour.

“But this has provided little incentives to the employers to invest in productivity improvements for our local workers,” Teh in a research paper.

For every 10 Malaysians in the workforce, there are four, mostly unskilled, foreigners.

For starters, Teh said, the local workers should receive support to develop their skills, productivity and entrepreneurship.

“With those qualities, our workers will have better incomes at their disposal to mitigate the adverse effects caused by rising cost of living,” he added.

Teh reminded the employers that they would also benefit by having well-equipped employees as the latter would be more productive at work.

“With more income at their (employees’) disposal, it will generate more demand for goods and services offered by business enterprises.

“And our economy will flourish due to the surge in domestic consumption,” he said.

Beef up security

Teh also said that the government should invest to create better public transport system and beef up security in the country.

He added that with efficient and cheap public transport, people could travel with minimal cost and reduce time to get to their workplace.

“And better security would inspire confidence among bussinesmen to invest here. Our workers will also feel safe to travel to their workplace,” he said.

Teh also said that the government should move to decentralise development projects in order to create jobs in other parts of the country.

Currently, the federal government was handling too many projects which had caused developments to be concentrated in the Klang Valley and the west coast region of the Peninsula.

Teh said that with decentralisation, the state governments or the local authorities could plan their own projects in their areas that will create jobs for the locals there.

“For example, why should the Finance Ministry run the public bus services in Penang? Wouldn’t it be better for the state government to handle these services as it is better informed on the needs of the people there?” he asked.