PETALING JAYA: The government is delaying implementation of a new minimum wage to appease business owners, claims former human resources minister M Kula Segaran.
He said the minimum wage of RM1,200 had been set by the previous Pakatan Harapan administration two years ago and should have been increased to at least RM1,400 now and RM1,500 next year.
“These are all delaying tactics by the human resources minister in order to win over employers,” added the Ipoh Barat MP.
Earlier this month, human resources minister M Saravanan said a minimum wage of “around RM1,500 a month” was expected to be implemented before the end of this year.
The announcement was met with resistance from business groups, which warned that most companies would not be able to implement the higher minimum wage as they were still recovering financially from the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent floods.
The groups also called on the government to link wages to productivity, with the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) noting how labour productivity had declined by 5.6% in the third quarter of 2021.
The last revision of the minimum wage was in February 2020, when it was raised from RM1,100 to RM1,200. By law, the minimum wage has to be reviewed once every two years.
Malaysians not taking up 3D jobs
Commenting on a statement by Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah that Malaysians were not interested in taking up 3D (dirty, dangerous, difficult) jobs because of low wages, Kula called on the government to step in and reverse the trend.
“Local people are not taking up jobs like these because they are not lucrative enough, so there must be appropriate incentives by the government,” he said.
He noted how during his tenure as minister, the government initiated the Malaysia@Work programme aimed at providing wage incentives for workers and hiring incentives for employers.
The Malaysian Trades Union Congress agreed that Malaysians were not taking up 3D jobs because of low wages, with its deputy president, Effendy Abdul Ghani, pointing out that poor working conditions and labour policies were also to blame.
He said the government should implement a minimum wage of RM1,500 and a cost of living allowance of RM300 as soon as possible, since salaries were generally insufficient to cover living expenses, especially with the prices of goods going up.
“When this happens, the people will look for better job opportunities abroad such as in Singapore, Australia and South Korea,” he said.
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