Where is the logic in MEF stand?

Firstly a recent statement by Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) president Syed Hussain Syed Husman, as reported by Bernama on Feb 6, 2022, is neither surprising nor is it making sense. Let me just go and rebut his views.

1. Syed Hussain said now is not the right time to increase costs and tbhat the proposed RM1,500 new minimum wage implementation would derail the economic recovery.

Anyway, this seems to be a standard template used each and every time the minimum wage issue is discussed.

Maybe Syed Hussain (above) should state when is the right time to increase the minimum wage because it seems there is no such time in his vocabulary. At all times, the MEF position has been ‘no minimum wage increase’, whether during an economic boom or recession.

2. We must remember that most Malaysian businesses are micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), whereby 98.9 percent are in this group.

This statement does not say how many workers are employed by them. In any case, PSM is of the view that this group needs to be helped - but then, the strategy should have been to tax the very rich individuals and companies and cross-subsidise the SMEs that need help.

In our scenario today, MEF will oppose all sorts of taxes, such as wealth tax, capital gains tax, etc, including setting a ceiling for high wages and at the same time, their only strategy is to ensure and suppress wages and ensure workers of the lowest paid are kept low.

So, increasing the minimum wage below is not really the issue but readjusting wages and income from above is the solution.

3. “The RM1,500 minimum wage will push up the cost of goods and services and operation costs will definitely increase.

In the last few months we have been seeing increases in the prices of goods - but no increase in wages. So, based on this logic, how come inflation went up first, without wages going up?

Is there something wrong on how we look at things? Or should we say that since inflation has gone up, wages should go up as well - and not the other way around!

4. “The RM1,500 minimum wage would mostly go to foreign labour as the locals are already paid higher wages than this, and the outflow of money will further increase.”

This cheap point is just an MEF attempt in trying to rally Malaysians against foreigners who work in the 3D sector. Now, what is the issue if those doing the most dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs be paid more?

Having said that, it is also the MEF, which has been constantly lobbying the government to get more foreign workers as it goes hand in hand with their cheap labour policies.

Besides that, today we have 300,000 workers working as cleaners and security guards in government schools and hospitals, who depend 100 percent on the minimum wage.

Most of these workers are Malaysians. So, even this statement that all or most Malaysians earn more than the minimum wage is false and untrue.

PSM looks at the statement by Human Resources Minister M Saravanan that the minimum wage will be increased to around RM1,500 by the end of the year with caution and suspicion.

Firstly the minimum wage needs to be reviewed and be implemented from the beginning of this year and not the end of the year. The only reason for this announcement now is that perhaps is it an election ploy, since the next general election is expected in the second half of this year.

For the record, both Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional, in their last election manifestoes, agreed to increase the minimum wage to RM1,500 by one term and this five-year period ends next year. So this figure of RM1,500 is not something amazing as this has been spoken about for more than five years now.

PSM during the Minimum wage technical committee meetings have given our views. Even if we use the government’s minimum wage formula in working out the minimum wage, then the minimum wage for Malaysia should be RM2,017 - as shown by the table below.

Despite this, we have maintained that minimum wage should be at least be RM1,800 a month, a figure that is much lower than the formula used, even by Bank Negara indicators.

Malaysia is the country with the second-highest Gini coefficient in Southeast Asia. This means that Malaysians have a very high income inequality gap. We believe that an increase in the minimum wage can, to a certain extent, reduce this inequality gap.

It is time to build a more equitable society and trying to suppress the wages of the very poorest is not the way to go. - Mkini

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S ARUTCHELVAN is PSM deputy chairperson.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.