The cabinet has decided that small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs) which employ foreign workers and cannot afford to implement the minimum wage will be able to apply for a one-year deferment.

The decision, seen as another compromise by the government after a series of protests by SMEs nationwide, was front-paged by both Sinchew Daily and Nanyang Siang Pau , which quoted sources.

Nanyang Siang Pau reported that a cabinet minister has confirmed the decision that was made during the cabinet meeting yesterday.

The government has been backtracking on the minimum wage policy since its implementation on Jan 1, after receiving strong objections from SMEs.

The cabinet has decided on Jan 30 that foreign workers who also enjoy the minimum wage - RM900 for peninsula Malaysia and RM800 for Sabah and Sarawak - will have to pay their levy fees , which had been previously borne by their employers.

azlan The compromise, however, was not welcomed by the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and other groups which represented workers, urging the government not to budge on the policy.

Yesterday, the National Wage Consultative Council - an advisory group to the government on the policy - urged employers in the small and medium industries, who cannot afford to pay the minimum wage to their employees, to apply for a deferment of the Minimum Wage Order 2012.

The council has said in a statement that the application must be made individually to the council secretariat, which would only be considering a deferment for the restructuring of wages for foreign workers.

Employers applying for the deferment would not be allowed to deduct levy and accommodation costs from the employees' wages.

For those who did not apply for the deferment, the minimum wage must be paid out from Jan 1 this year, but if they could not afford the minimum wage for foreign workers, they are allowed to apply to the manpower department to deduct levy and accommodation costs from the employees' wages.

"However, employers in the plantation sector cannot deduct accommodation cost from the employees' wages," read the statement.