MITI CONCERNED WITH SHORTAGE OF LABOUR IN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY

SHAH ALAM (Malaysia), April 27 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of International
Trade and Industry (MITI) is very concerned with the labour shortage problem
affecting the local automotive industry, its Deputy Minister Mukhriz Dr Mahathir
said Tuesday.

The government restricted the intake of foreign labour from 2.5 million last
year to 1.8 million currently as a move to reduce the dependency of Malaysian
automotive industry on foreign manpower.

Mukhriz said the labour shortage issue not only involved MITI, but also
other ministries like the Ministry of Human Resources and the government was
looking at what would be a manageable ratio of foreign labour intake in the
country.

He said this to reporters after visiting Autokeen Sdn Bhd's plant at Bukit
Subang here Tuesday.

Autokeen is a chasis part supplier for car manufacturers in Malaysia
including Proton and Perodua.

Mukhriz said one of the complaints from automotive industry players was that
local workers were not resilient enough to work in assembly lines.

Elaborating this, Autokeen Managing Director, Abdul Rahman Ahmad, said local
workers were not willing to work in his company's assembly line which involved a
lot of metal stamping works.

The working environment is noisy, hot and there are lots of sparks from the
welding process, and so far only the Indian and Bangladeshi workers are willing
to endure the job.

However, the government has restricted the foreign workers intake and
companies have to pay a higher levy to bring them in, Abdul Rahman said.

He also said the company would have to bear the cost when they fail to
deliver the parts to car manufacturers on time.

Mukhriz also expressed concern that if the situation of labour shortage
prolonged, the component parts industry would be affected with both locals and
foreigners losing their job.

On another note, Mukhriz said MITI would be also looking into the issue of
higher interest rates of about seven to eight per cent for financial assistance
to the local automotive industry.
--BERNAMA