IPOH, July 30 — DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng today urged Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri S. Saravanan to simplify procedures for foreign labour intake that are transparent in order to overcome corruption.
The Bagan MP said simplifying the procedures will help spur economic growth which is expected to be affected by the United States (US) economy in technical recession.
“Decentralising application to individual states and not in Putrajaya is the first step. But applications must be facilitated and processed quickly.
“Saravanan must give a full accounting with a weekly report of how much foreign labour is processed against the number of applications,” he said in a statement this morning.
Lim pointed out that the ringgit has depreciated to a new record low of RM3.2321 to the Singapore dollar whilst hovering at a 5-year record low of RM4.46 to the US dollar yesterday.
“The ringgit is expected to decline further due to the drop in prices of crude oil and palm oil. The US economy is also in technical recession after its GDP fell 0.9 per cent in the second quarter after contracting by 1.6 per cent in the first quarter.
“These developments of a declining ringgit against two of our three biggest trading partners bring higher risks of rising business cost and cost of living as well as an economic slowdown due to the US technical recession,” he said.
Lim said the government is almost in the state of running out of money due to its policy flip-flops and inability to rein in corruption.
“Policy deregulation and liberalisation of quotas are the only tools left to revive business confidence,” he added.
He said the self-inflicted labour shortage over the last one year of 1.2 million workers is caused by bureaucratic red-tape and inter-Ministerial confusion.
He added that the shortage in labour is also due to the government’s inability to keep its promises in its Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia.
“This defines a failed government and the incompetence of the human resources minister.
“Malaysian businesses have paid dearly for the government’s failures. The oil palm sector, glove industry and automotive component parts manufacturers are facing losses of RM33.5 billion due to the labour shortage.
“The total RM33.5 billion in losses from the labour shortage excludes losses in the non-oil palm, auto parts, or glove industry. If losses from other manufacturing, retail and hospitality, tourism and services sectors are tabulated, total losses will run into tens of billions of ringgit.
“Many businesses have to reject new orders or even close down due to the foreign labour shortage. Some employers are so desperate that there are reports of paying RM1,500 to RM1,800 per head to secure foreign labour,” he said.
