THE cabinet has been slow to act on the recommendations of the National Recovery Council (NRC) despite being made months in advance, Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

The NRC chairman said there seems to be no urgency in the cabinet to act on the council’s suggestions to ensure economic recovery.

“For us, there needs to be a sense of urgency,” Muhyiddin said at a press conference.

“If we were to wait for another year (for our suggestions to be implemented), it is too late.

“When we put forward a suggestion, and it is approved, speedy action needs to be taken. This is with regard to the country and the people’s well-being. 

“If we do not recover, the people will be burdened. Global economy is also getting worse, and we may face a recession. These factors must be taken into account.”

The former prime minister said to date, the council has made 95 suggestions to the cabinet.

Of the recommendations, 86 have been approved while nine are awaiting the cabinet’s approval, he said.

Of the 69 socio-economic recommendations, only 16 have been implemented, 30 in the process of being executed, 14 have yet to be implemented and nine pending the cabinet’s decision, he said.

“The top suggestion that was put forth by the NRC and needs immediate action is on tackling the shortage of foreign workers in various sectors, especially agriculture, which suffered a loss of RM20 billion last year,” he said.

“Secondly, to help small and medium enterprises overcome the liquidity problem, which is still affecting them, despite the country being in the transition phase to endemicity.

“Thirdly is the issue of children being left out of school due to the closure during the pandemic.

“Fourthly, on food security and fifthly is the tourism industry, which is still at a minimum level and does not reflect positive recovery.”

The Pagoh MP said while the cabinet has approved 95% of the council’s suggestions, the execution was not satisfactory. 

He said in September last year, the NRC had suggested to the government to set up a committee to look into the manpower shortage under the Human Resources Ministry.

He said this committee was supposed to look into issues plaguing the intake of foreign workers and find a solution. 

“The NRC was told by the Human Resources Ministry that there have been 1,152,276 million applications for foreign workers between January and September 2022 from various sectors,” he said.

“Only 447,223 (40.5%) have been approved but only 76,000 (6.5%) have been brought into the country as of September 7. 

“The data show that the intake is a lot less than what the industry needs. This problem is critical and has not been solved by the government despite the fact that we have been bringing it up since last December.

“Immediate steps need to be taken by the Human Resources Ministry on the foreign worker intake to support economic recovery.

“The prime minister must prioritise this matter and ensure that the problems faced by the industries are solved soon.

“For the long term, we must also prioritise the use of technology and automation to reduce our reliance on foreign workers.” – September 27, 2022.