The government has failed to show seriousness in drawing up a minimum wage policy, said Charles Anthony Santiago (DAP-Klang).

ethnic relations upm fiasco 190706 charles santiago "It takes one step forward but takes three steps back," he alleged during the Question session in Parliament today, as he posed a supplementary question to the human resources minister.

He pointed to the sudden reversal of the decision to set a minimum wage for security guards as an example. The government deferred the move shortly after announcing it.

"The government is afraid of pressure from security firms. This also shows that it is not serious about the decision to work towards a national minimum wage policy," claimed Santiago.

He further said that the government has not shown sufficient concern for the interests of stakeholders in formulating the policy.

"I hear from my friends in trade unions that the government had talked to them about the minimum wage, but that it did not take any of their views seriously,” he added.

Responding, Deputy Human Resource Minister Maznah Mazlan dismissed the allegation that the government had bowed to pressure from security firms.

maznah mazlan "This is the usual baseless accusation by the opposition," she said.

She reiterated that the ministry is committed to arriving at a minimum wage policy.

This will take time because each sector presents a different set of circumstance, she said, adding that feedback from workers has been lukewarm to date.

Poor response to ministry's blog

She said that the ministry will continue operating its ‘Minimum Salary’ blog despite the poor response from the public.

Maznah said that so far, the blog, which was established on March 24, had only received 77 responses.

Of the total, 70 respondents, or 91 percent, agreed that a minimum salary be implemented, two (three percent) disagreed, and five (six percent) stayed neutral.

"The number of feedback received is too small compared with the 11 million workers registered in the country and thus, it does not represent the workers.

"To get a more comprehensive feedback, the ministry will continue operating the blog," she was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Maznah said the ministry would also organise a tripartite workshop with workers unions, employers' associations, academicians and relevant government agencies in the middle of next month to discuss the issue.

"Comprehensive feedback from the blog and the workshop will be the key input to be considered by the government concerning the issue," she said.