GOVT TO CONTINUE REDUCING FOREIGN WORKERS

PETALING JAYA, May 14 (Bernama) -- The government will continue to introduce
measures to reduce dependency on foreign workers in all sectors, although it
admits that foreign labour is needed in certain sectors, like plantation and
construction, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said here Wednesday.

"Among the measures include the newly introduced policy that requires
employers to pay for the cost of levy of their foreign workers, instead of
requiring the foreign workers to pay for the levy themselves.

"However, recognising the difficulties faced by employers currently, the
government decided to defer the decision to double the levy to a later date to
help employers cope with the current economic situation," he said at the
Malaysian Employers Federation's (MEF) 50th anniversary dinner at the Sunway
Lagoon Resort Hotel here.

Muhyiddin said the government was also putting in place measures to
encourage industries to move-up the value chain and, where possible, to automate
and mechanise their operations and in areas where automation and mechanisation
was not possible, efforts were being made to replace foreign workers with
skilled workforce.

"The new economic model aims to increase employees' productivity through
their own efforts in innovation and creativity. By putting emphasis on this new
economic model, the government hopes employees will attain a higher level of
competitiveness and eventually improve their standard of living," he added.

The Deputy Prime Minister said for this to happen, every business in the
country, including private sector and government-linked companies must strive to
improve the skills of their workers through innovation and creativity.

"To move-up the value chain and to create a high economy, there is a need to
certify the skills of the Malaysian workforce," added Muhyiddin.

Towards this end, he said employers should take advantage of the economic
slowdown by conducting training and retraining for employees so that the aim
for higher value-added economy could be achieved and "in the long term, this
would eventually help Malaysia wean off its dependence on foreign workers."

He said at the height of the nation's economic activity up to Sept 2008,
there were about 2.1 million registered foreign workers in the country and as at
Jan, 2009 there were about 1.9 million registered foreign workers whereby
200,000 had already been sent back to their home country upon expiry of their
work permits.

In dealing with the current sluggish economic climate, Muhyiddin said the
government was taking all the necessary steps to ensure that local businesses
remained productive and competitive, and that local employees remain employed.

"It is the aspiration of the government to create an effective
public-private sector partnership to address and remove unnecessary impediments
in Malaysia's business environment. Besides reviewing processes, the challenge
to the public sector is to engage actively in dialogue and consultation, to
implement standards in service delivery and to ensure that these standards are
continuously improved," the Deputy Prime Minister said.

He said the government recognised that the private sector enterprises were
the nation's engine of growth and was committed towards strengthening the
business cummunity.

"While it is a fact that there will be cases where companies are forced to
streamline their operations during this difficult period, the government is
steadfast in ensuring that the rate of unemployment in the country remains
manageable," added Muhyiddin.
-- BERNAMA