TOP PRIORITY FOR LOCALS TO JOB OFFERS

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- The government will ensure Malaysians are
given first preference in job offers, International Trade and Industry Ministry
secretary-general Abdul Rahman Mamat said Tuesday.

"The government's policy now is to create jobs for the locals first. We want
the industries to absorb the unemployment at this moment because of the
downsizing of factories," he told reporters when asked to comment on the call by
furniture industry players to the government to reduce foreign workers' levy.

Abdul Rahman said: "The government's policy is that foreign workers are not
to be retained during difficult times. All new plants or factories to be set up
must ensure jobs are given to locals first as a matter of top priority," he
said.

He said the government was consulting the industries to find out ways to
assist them in reducing the cost of doing business especially during the current
economic slowdown.

The government was looking at various ways to help the private sector take
advantage of the government's initiatives such as market access through Free
Trade Agreements (FTAs), he told reporters after the soft launch of the
Malaysian International Furniture Fair 2009.

Earlier, MIFF Sdn Bhd chairman Tan Chin Huat asked the government to
scrap the foreign workers' levy to cushion the impact of the economic slowdown.

"Manufacturers do have a problem as locals shy away from the industry
because they think the furniture industry is a dirty and dusty business," he
said.

Tan said foreign workers made up 70 percent to 80 percent of the workforce
in the manufacturing sector.

He also said MIFF would submit a proposal paper to MITI on ways to further
develop the furniture industry.

"I hope furniture industry associations and furniture traders will
contribute valuable inputs to be incorporated in the proposal paper to provide
complete information to the ministry. The information will come in handy in FTA
talks," he added.
-- BERNAMA