MALAYSIA’S economic recovery will be severely jeopardised if the government doesn’t allow the recruitment of migrant workers, the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) said.

MEF president Syed Hussain Syed Husman said certain sectors are highly dependent on migrant workers because Malaysians have shunned these jobs.

He wants the government to reverse its decision not to allow these sectors to hire migrant workers.

“While employers are eager to start their business, they are frustrated as locals still shun work that was performed by migrant workers.

“This is despite the fact that more than 500,000 Malaysians are currently unemployed,” he said in a statement.

He said that employers have exhausted all avenues to get the necessary workers, including the recalibration programme, but to no avail.   

“We understand that migrant workers are a sensitive issue.

“However, we must accept that not all industries can adopt the IR 4.0 technology due to the nature of the production processes, such as furniture and manufacturing.”

Hussain said that migrant workers are only employed for blue collar jobs as employers recognise that supervisory roles should be given to Malaysians.

“We cannot mix the local unemployment issues with this sector of blue-collar jobs, especially the dangerous, dirty and difficult (3D) jobs. 

“We must accept this reality and address it urgently for the sake of our economy.”

He also hoped that Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan will look into their plight.

“We thank Saravanan for recently engaging with stakeholder representatives on the issue of shortage of migrant workers.

“We’re optimistic that the Malaysian employment market will improve with the opening of business that will in turn attract more foreign direct investment and large multinationals.”

Earlier today, Saravanan said although the Human Resources Ministry had decided that there will be no intake of migrant workers – to give priority to locals – most Malaysians are not keen on the jobs offered by the agriculture and plantation industries or the cleaning sector.

He said he would bring the industries’ request to allow an intake of migrant workers to the cabinet for review.

“It was the government’s plan originally to give the opportunity to local workers, but locals are no longer taking up these jobs, especially those in dirty, dangerous and difficult industries.

“Their problem today is that locals are shunning these jobs that have been offered to them.

“Now we are in a situation where we either allow them (to take in migrant workers) or they fold,” he said.

On September 19, the government decided that there would be no intake, including foreign maids from source countries, until December 31.

As for the issue of forced labour, he said the majority of employers are responsible and take good care of their employees.

“Yet, we do not rule out there were isolated cases where irresponsible employers cause issues as far as the International Labour Organisation was concerned.

“The MEF condemns such irresponsible employers who tarnished our country’s image.

“We even proposed that the government impose heavy penalties on such irresponsible and recalcitrant employers.”

Hussain said in the long term, the MEF hopes to work closely with the government on a workable and holistic system for the recruitment of migrant workers. 

“For now, we must realise the issue is not about migrant labour in selected industry because this is about the national economy. 

“If these sectors fail to produce then our overall national economy will suffer. 

“We need to look beyond migrant workers and see what is immediately needed to quickly grow our domestic economy.” – September 27, 2021.