A sharp difference in policy between
two neighboring countries. Which country gets it
right?
Agence France-Presse - 1/20/2008 4:54 AM
Malaysia to cut 500,000 foreign workers by 2009: report
The Malaysian government is planning to send home up to 500,000
foreign workers by 2009 in a bid to force employers here to hire
locals, according to a report Sunday.
The move follows a denial by the government earlier this month that
it had frozen the recruitment of workers from India after reports
quoted officials saying a ban was in place.
There are about 2.3 million foreign workers in Malaysia, according
to home ministry figures, with the vast majority mainly employed in
manufacturing and agriculture as well as in domestic work.
"We have been lax with the ruling to allow employers to cut costs
with cheaper foreign labour," the Home Ministry's top civil servant
Raja Azahar Raja Abdul Manap told the Star daily.
"But now, they have to turn to locals and pay a reasonable salary
based on supply and demand," he added.
Raja Azahar told the paper his ministry was planning to have only
1.8 million foreign workers in the country by next year with the
number dropping further to 1.5 million by 2015.
He told the Star only foreign workers in the construction,
manufacturing and plantation industries would be exempt from the
plan.
The government will not approve work permits of unskilled foreign
workers in Malaysia for five years or more, it reported, with
skilled workers getting a maximum of 10 years.
New minimum requirements could also be introduced for employers of
foreign domestic help, it reported.
"We are looking into the possibility that only those who earn more
that 5,000 ringgit (1,534 dollars) (compared to 3,000 ringgit
presently) be allowed to employ foreign maids," he said.
