MANY EMPLOYERS AGAINST BASIC MINIMUM WAGE, SAYS CHANDRA MUZAFFAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 9 (Bernama) -- Many private employers in Malaysia appear
to be against improving the plight of the poor by giving workers a basic minimum
wage, says Dr Chandra Muzaffar, chairman of the board of trustees of the
1Malaysia Foundation.

As such, he said, the government must continue to address the challenge
of low incomes and widening inequalities in society and that it should not be
distracted by small groups motivated by self-interest and blinded by a myopic
notion of "market forces determining wages".

In a statement issued Monday, he said the widening income inequality in the
country was a major obstacle to unity and solidarity that 1Malaysia envisioned.

"If 1Malaysia is premised upon inclusiveness, then it must not only ensure a
living income for the bottom 40 per cent but also reduce the yawning economic
and social disparities that are an affront to human dignity," he said.

Chandra heads the non-profit foundation which aims to engage all Malaysians
in working towards national unity and the 1Malaysia concept.

He said the wage trend in Malaysia recorded only an annual 2.6 per cent
growth in the past 10 years, compared to the escalating cost of living during
the same period and this explained why almost 34 per cent of about 1.3 million
workers earned less than RM700 (US$218.75) a month, below the poverty line of
RM720 (US$225) a month.

"The huge influx of unskilled, lowly paid foreign labour into the country
since the late eighties has played a big part in depressing wage levels at one
end of the spectrum.

"At the same time, the liberalisation of the financial sector and the
privatisation of public enterprises in Malaysia as in so many other countries
have led to the elevation of incomes at the other end of the spectrum, thus
contributing to widening inequalities," he explained.

Chandra said the government was attempting to respond to the challenge by
reducing the dependence on foreign workers and by improving wage levels and
working conditions in certain economic sectors.

He said 90 per cent of countries had laws that provided for a minimum wage
in one form or another.

However, he said, many economists and sociologists today felt that the term
"minimum wage" itself, which was the product of an earlier era, should be
replaced with the term "living income" and linked to the dignity of the human
being.

"A living income is a minimum level of income by which all human beings can
provide for themselves and their dependents the five basic material human needs
-- food, housing, clothing, health care and education. These needs are vital for
protecting human dignity," he said.

Chandra claimed that governments, owners of capital, and other powerful
elements in the upper strata of society had often failed to protect the dignity
of the masses that there was growing alienation and discontent in many parts of
the world.

China is an example of a country whose phenomenal growth rates since the
early nineties have benefited a minority, rather than the majority, which is why
social unrest is on the rise, as the respected Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences acknowledged.

Similarly, India's much lauded economic success has not transformed the
lives of its teeming millions. A recent United Nations study has shown that
one-third of the world's poor live in conditions of utter destitution in that
country.

Even the "red shirts" protest movement in Thailand that galvanised a huge
segment of the rural poor has been described by some analysts as an expression
of the anger and disillusionment of the marginalised.

Chandra said the bottom 40 per cent in Malaysian society was nowhere as
desperate as the poor of China, India or Thailand.

"Nonetheless, there is alienation. Some of this alienation manifested itself
through the ballot-box in the March 2008 general election. The tremendous
increase in crime rates, and numerous cases of social delinquency that surfaced
between 2006 and 2008 might also have been the consequences of alienation and
marginalisation.

"It is also quite possible that a segment of those at the bottom of the heap
-- especially the youths -- feel marginalised by a society which they perceive
panders more to the glitz and glitter of the elite than to their yearning for
recognition and respect."

Chandra said no one would know for sure how this alienation of the poor
and those struggling to make ends meet would express itself in the next few
years and that it was imperative for the government to address the important
issues of low incomes and widening inequalities.
-- BERNAMA


Attachments:
untitled-[2] 10 k [ text/html ] Download | View