Anwar: China receptive to their companies hiring M'sians first

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Beijing was receptive to his suggestion for China companies coming into Malaysia to hire locals first.

He said the current practice of those companies is to bring in all their employees from China.

“So I proposed that (China companies) must take in locals who have the qualifications.

“If they have identified they do not have enough manpower, then we can approve immediately (for them to take in workers from China), with the condition that they prove there were early efforts to hire locals.

“Secondly, if (locals) do not have the qualifications, they establish a training team because these investments (from China) are not just one or two billion but tens of billions.

“Alhamdullilah, when I stressed this, they were very receptive,” Anwar said.

He said this while speaking to Prime Minister’s Department officers at their weekly gathering in Putrajaya this morning.

He added that Chinese leaders agreed to hold a training programme to facilitate hiring locals one or two years before they start hiring workers from China.

The prime minister also gave an example of Malaysia’s experience with the East Coast Rail Line (ECRL) and Twin City in Kuantan where many of the employees were brought in from China.

“I said this policy cannot be accepted and Alhamdullilah, they agreed with these conditions so that we can have a closer relationship in terms of trade and diplomacy,” he said.

Chinese investments

Following the discussions he attended while in Beijing, Anwar said a number of China companies have also agreed to make Malaysia their regional hub and that he will reveal more details in the coming days.

“Usually these companies go to neighbouring countries (to set up their regional hub) but for the first time, a few have chosen Malaysia as their regional hub,” he said.

Anwar was in Beijing for an official three-day trip starting March 30 in his maiden visit to the country as prime minister.

It was reported that his visit to China saw Malaysia securing a record RM170 billion worth of investment commitments from the East Asian country.

The amount is from a total of 19 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) sealed between businesses in China and Malaysia in various fields, especially green technology and the digital economy. - Mkini