LETHAL COCKTAIL: NAJIB'S GST & UMNO'S MALAY SUPREMACY

Did you know that in March of this year 2015 the gomen through the JPA has terminated the contracts of 50,000 'Contract workers'? Meaning their contracts were not renewed, instantly creating 50,000 unemployed people in the economy?

Anyway here is a comment by Assam Pedas of Johor. My comments come after this.

ASSAM PEDAS JOHOR

Tuan Syed,

I run a medium size law firm. Starting with just one staff, it gradually grew to almost forty staff.

The implementation of a Minimum Wage policy and the slide in business environment, wage pressure in the last two years, GST and also generally poor work ethics ranging from "sakit", "emergency", "anak makcik accident", "datuk meninggal (kali kelima)l, "half-day", "cuti bersalin (beranak tiga kali dalam empat tahun", "sakit sehari sebelum atau selepas cuti umum" (I believe most employers suffer from these problems too), left me with no alternative but to reorganise my firm.

First to go were almost ten para-legals and no less than five lawyers.

Additionally, since last year, I completely removed some of the benefits the staff once enjoyed, the RM200 medical fees reimbursement(s), staff group insurance, annual overseas holidays, and even the fully paid umrah trip for long serving staff.‎ Even where once staff were "assured" a one month bonus, they now receive at most a half month bonus (or even lesser for the under performing). All these are no longer possible because of the ever increasing financial stress running a business.

In contrast, I have since this year set up a back-room/legal support office in Batam (Indonesia).

My Indonesian office now does all the drafting of the legal notices and cause papers (all instructions are emailed from my office in Malaysia to Batam) and have it emailed to my law office. All my staff in Malaysia need to do is to check and file the documents and attend court.

By reorganising my law practice, I am not only taking advantage of the slightly lower saving in salary (In Batam, Gaji Upah Minimum is almost RM1,000.00), but also gain from the work ethics and attitude of Indonesians employees who value their jobs much better compared to Malaysians.

I no longer need to tolerate, the Monday and Friday "sakit- tak dapat datang kerja" syndrome, the emergency leave, coming in late, half day, grandfather dying for the fifth time and the "sakit satu hari sebelum/selepas cuti umum" and other filmsy reasons. I no longer need to watch my staff, who stroll in at 9.05 and start actual work 15 minutes later. I no longer need to watch some of my staff who at 1.30pm do not do the solat, but instead do their solat after 2pm and again only starting work some 20 minutes later.

My Indonesian staff by contrast are on time for work, hardly ever are on leave and work diligently knowing if they lose their job, it is not easy to get another. I no longer suffer from the perennial problems an employer in Malaysia suffers from. My Indonesian staff are so respectful and polite. Of cause, there is not much savings salary wise, but I have the advantage of not having to pay Sosco and EPF. (However, I have implemented a policy of mandatory saving plan, akin to EPF) Bonus is paid on merit, and my Indonesian staff work hard to deserve an annual bonus.

I believe I have made a right move and in an era of borderless world and Internet era, this move of mine has been made possible. So, if this arrangement continues to work well, I may really consider downsizing my office in Malaysia.

ASAM PEDAS JOHOR.

My comments : Didnt I say so? Or let me put it another way : I told you so.

Kan saya sudah cakap, berbanyak kali dan berulang kali.

Saya dah lama mai khabaq dah, tapi hangpa tak mahu paham.

Let me add a few more true stories.

I recently met a professional designer (bukan Melayu) who runs a successsful firm here in Malaysia. But he is also affected by these same issues. Minimum Wages, higher wage costs, poor work attitudes and softening business conditions.

So he has opened an office in the Middle East (Iran) !! He says the wage costs there are 1/3 our costs. There is a three hour time difference between Malaysia and Iran.

So they email their latest discussions / changes about the designs to the office in Teheran in the night. When the Teheran office starts work at 9 am, it is already lunch time in KL, just in time for the Boss in KL to organise a lunch meeting via Skype and video conferencing with Teheran. He may call in the project engineers etc.

And in Teheran there is much less of the "sakit- tak dapat datang kerja" syndrome, the emergency leave, coming in late, half day, grandfather dying for the fifth time and the "sakit satu hari sebelum/selepas cuti umum" and other filmsy reasons.

They become so much more efficient at 1/3 the cost.

In short, more jobs are moving overseas via the Internet. Bebudak kita jadi penganggur.

To the "ketuanan" folks, you thought the Internet was only meant to download religious ceramah and pornographic movies !! Your two favorite interests. Bodoh.

Here is another true story. Some time ago the largest Japanese construction company (also one of the largest in the world) flew an entire senior team to KL. They visited some professional outfits here in KL (bukan Melayu juga ok, I am stating facts). They were scouting to do the same thing. They were looking for lower costs and efficiency.

They have many projects in the region. So they were looking for a local design team to be their partners. Same concept. They can zap their parameters via Internet to the KL office, then discuss via video conferencing.

New software using cloud computing allows these techies to keep track of exactly who made what changes to the design, when and where. Which is critical for running large projects through the Internet.

Folks, there is no more international trade. There is only global trade. You dont have to go to Tokyo to work for a Japanese company. You can stay here.

Here is another true story. A Chinese architect cannot (or it is difficult lah) get a professional architects license (PAM Certification). I think there are quotas involved. Kekawan ketuanan take note.

No problem. The young fellow has set up office in KL. Again he 'subcontracts' his architect services all over the world, via the Internet. He works for local architects, foreign architects etc. They just zap their designs via email.

Plus they can get paid in US Dollars or other currency which can be deposited directly into their accounts in Singapore (Cayman Islands are too far away lah).

Kekawan ketuanan, you can control the professional licensing, you can control the quotas etc here but how can you control people from sending and receiving email, WhatsApp messaging, Facebooking plus Zuckerberg-only-knows what else will come up on the horizon tomorrow?

Here is true story no. 4. You want to rent a holiday apartment in Likas, Kota Kinabalu? Go online, look up "holiday apartments in Likas" and a dozen 'booking agents' will pop up, most of whom are overseas. We used one agency from France or somewhere.

You pay them via credit card online (in Ringgit) and go for your visit to Kota Kinabalu. The agency in France pays the apartment owner in Likas and takes their commisison in France. A Malaysian family going for a holiday inside Malaysia can make all their arrangements (at a competitive price) through a French booking agent operating online.

So ketuanan folks, how are you going to put a quota on this? Hangpa nak bubuh AP tang mana? Kuda kepang letak tang t*loq. Sebab itu kalau naik kuda kepang, tak boleh pi mana pun. T*loq saja sakit !!

To be able to be part of all this money making wizardry, not only must you speak English, stop listening to religious ceramah, stop watching too much porn but you must also understand simple things like 'delivering as promised, delivering on time, good attitude and service with a smile for everyone, especially your fellow Malaysians - and not just for the arabs and the omputih.'

Finally you must understand 'buy low and sell high'. This is a real problem in Malaysia. A sizeable segment of the population has not yet understood the concept of 'buy low sell high'.

You cannot buy high and sell low. That is called "tutup kedai" (closing shop for my American readers, thank you).

When you have Minimum Wages pushing costs up and up but productivity is stagnant, it becomes 'buy high sell low'. Plus the Viets, Thais, Indons and Chinese are racing ahead at lower cost. So the factories here will shut down and move to Vietnam and Thailand.

When you have GST pushing prices up 15% or more but sales drop or become stagnant it becomes 'buy high sell low' again. So businesses are closing down and tens of thousands of workers are getting laid off in the economy.

It is because of 'buy high sell low'. Cant you understand?

In brief, all the ketuanan stuff has become crap. It does not work. It will not work. It will make you poorer.

They have opened Low Yatt 2 at the Mara building in Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Tanya soalan sikit : peniaga situ ada bayar sewa tak? Atau depa dapat sewa free atau sewa sabsidi? Sebab Menteri Bodoh yang tak tahu niaga nak "prove a point"? - http://syedsoutsidethebox.blogspot.com/