Groups against hiring of foreign workers now want them

Minister Wee Ka Siong says two-month freeze on new foreign workers has affected them.

PUTRAJAYA: The government is drawing up a systematic method to facilitate the hiring of foreign workers under the rehiring programme, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Wee Ka Siong.

He said the government had received complaints from trade associations facing problems of a shortage of workers after the freeze on the intake of foreign workers since February following the implementation of the foreign workers rehiring programme.

Wee said the parties who had earlier wanted the hiring of foreign workers to be frozen were now appealing to the government to reconsider the directive after feeling its impact for the past two months.

“One of the reasons for the freeze by the government was because there were requests by the same groups who said that it (hiring of foreign workers) was not necessary.

“After two months, the impact is beginning to be felt… the groups which wanted to stop the hiring of foreign workers are now appealing for the services of foreign workers.”

He spoke after the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding for the Special Loan Scheme For Residents of Chinese New Villages here today.

“We have held dialogues with various associations. They appealed to the government to reconsider the decision to freeze the intake of foreign workers.”

An English-language newspaper today reported that the manufacturing sector was now facing a shortage of workers of up to 84% following the government’s freeze order on the hiring of foreign workers.

Wee, whose portfolio includes looking after the small and medium industries owned by the Chinese community, said the government had looked into the matter in terms of its impact on the economy where sectors, especially those that are export oriented, had their productivity affected.

“The government is now thinking of a way to tackle the issue because there are employers who need 200 workers but do not know how to get them under the rehiring programme.”

He said the government projected that there were more than 1.7 million illegal foreign workers in the country, but so far only 55,000 foreign workers were involved in the rehiring programme.

– BERNAMA