KUALA LUMPUR – The government is mulling bringing in foreign workers to fill vacancies in certain economic sectors that are currently short of manpower, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
The National Recovery Council (NRC) chairman said this is among the measures taken to assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in certain industries that have been struggling with their workforce.
Currently, the intake of foreign workers has been frozen until year-end to prioritise locals in filling up vacancies.
“The NRC today discussed the form of assistance for SMEs, especially in the issue of liquidity and the lack of manpower, or in particular, foreign workers,” he said after chairing the council’s meeting here today.
Muhyiddin said in this regard, the NRC has agreed to set up a special task force involving several ministries and government agencies to look into issues faced by the SMEs.
“We want to know what kind of support and assistance the businesses need in terms of workers, which sectors need more manpower, how many more staff are required and how to solve this issue.
“We are considering whether this can be solved by training locals to fit into the related sectors or if we need more foreign workers.”
Muhyiddin said if approved, foreigners that are hired must pass certain health conditions before being allowed into the country, with the plantation sector identified as among the most affected by the shortage of workers.
On the special task force, he added that it has been given a month from today to table its findings pertaining to the needs of the SMEs.
When asked for further comment, the former prime minister said the SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang had recently presented a special paper to the NRC pertaining to the grouses and challenges faced by the industry.
“Among the things he raised were the issue of financing for SMEs, banking-related matters and financial incentives.
“Additionally, he also appealed to the government to help address the issue of a workers’ shortage. So we decided to set up this working committee to look into the matter.”
On whether the additional aid proposed for the SMEs will incur extra funding from the government, Muhyiddin said this can be done either by existing allocations or through borrowings.
“We will find out about the details one month from today when the task force reports back to the council.” – The Vibes, October 15, 2021
