RATHER unsurprisingly, employer organisations are resisting the call for a legislatively mandated mental health provision in the law.
The Malaysian Employers’ Federation (MEF) has been consistent over the years, in that any suggestion made which would accord greater social protection to workers in the country is deflected through arguments which essentially go in the direction that workers’ rights should be suppressed.
It is readily acknowledged that the causes of mental health can be from stressors outside of the workplace.
Equally, it could be from the workplace and the pressures inflicted by employers who operate in an inhumane manner could also cause mental health issues which impact workers in their life outside of work.
If these employer organisations had their way, we would go back to the practices of the feudal era, where workers were treated as slaves. In today’s times, more sophisticated ways of dehumanising work and workers are being practised, and the exploitation of the common workers continues.
To expect employers to act considerately and reasonably of their own volition is akin to gambling with the rights of workers in the country.
If a few employers gain a financial advantage through exploiting workers, others will have to follow suit for the sake of being competitive. It’s an endless race to the bottom.
Not everyone is behind the aspirations of the Madani government to uplift the quality of life of the economically disadvantaged in the country.
The profit-seekers seem not to know or countenance limits to their greed.
We need legislation to balance the equation which lands hardest on the economically deprived.
The government should not waste any time in pandering to the motives of such employer organisations and move ahead with its change agenda.
Callistus Antony D’Angelus is an International labour Advisor with the Social Protection Contributors Advisory Association Malaysia (SPCAAM)
