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The Ministry of Home Affairs’s announcement that it will ensure that there are sufficient foreign workers in the country to meet the aspirations of the 10MP is a cause for concern. This needs to be evaluated carefully as it can be a double-edged sword.

The need for foreign workers needs a careful and detailed study. There are some sectors where there is a need for foreign workers due to a shortage of local manpower or talent. However, this needs to be properly regulated so as not to derail the objective of moving Malaysia away from the middle-income trap and becoming a high-income society.

It must be ensured that foreign workers are not being used by employers to deprive Malaysians of employment opportunities and neither must it be used by employers to depress the level of wages in the country.

Foreign workers are hired on the basis that they are contracted to one employer, with mobility between employers very difficult or virtually impossible. They are bound by such constraints and on a larger plane; their wage levels are not reflective of the market conditions.

This is one of the main factors which have resulted in the depression of wages in the country and where via artificial means of regulating the demand and supply of the workforce, wages are kept down.

The arrangement and regulation of foreign worker employment in this country is too loose, resulting in not only an abuse by employers but also in damaging the progress of the country’s economy.

This matter deserves serious consideration and the nation cannot afford the selfish and short-term interest of some employers to stand in the way of the long-term development of this nation.

The National Union of Bank Employees (Nube) likes to suggest that there be better coordination of foreign workers employment in the country and that this is not to be abused as it is detrimental to the interests of the country.

The writer is, general secretary, National Union of Bank Employees.

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