KUALA LUMPUR, October 31 — The American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) has urged the Human Resources Ministry (HR) to reconsider the foreign employment process which requires employers to advertise vacancies on the national employment portal MYFutureJobs, effective November 1.
In a statement today, Amcham said the restrictions would create a domino effect that will exacerbate Malaysia’s recovery and impact on investments as well as the employment ecosystem in the country.
“Not only will this pose a huge uncertainty on existing foreigners in Malaysia but it would also impact the ability of companies to deploy resources effectively to support their Malaysian investments,” it said.
Employers are extremely aware of their social responsibility to reduce unemployment in Malaysia and foster sustainable operations, and as such, industries are actively collaborating with the local academia and organisations like Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (Mdec) to upskill local talent for industry needs.
“There are other measures that are in place to help drive re-skilling and re-employment.
“The proposed processes interfere with the prerogative of the business to hire talent that suit their needs, meet the demands of the roles or have the potential to grow and succeed in their corporate environment,” the chamber said.
On the local hiring, Amcham said many of the American multinational companies’ members have over 90 per cent local hire rates, including at senior management levels with some even at 100 per cent.
However, given the limitations of Malaysia’s population size, the talent pool is constrained and in need of augmentation for targeted growth and advancement goals to be achieved.
“The newly announced process stands contrary to this and will severely impact ongoing and future investment considerations if accessibility and mobility of talent is further limited,” it further said.
Meanwhile, chief executive officer Siobhan Das also urged the ministry to conduct a series of dialogues with important stakeholders such as the various chambers representing key investor communities, investment government agencies, relevant state government representatives, and key industry players.
“The dialogues (will help) shape a policy that addresses the concern on rising unemployment in Malaysia in a constructive manner that will retain the opportunities foreign talent brings to the quality of the workforce for the betterment of the Malaysian employees, and the country,” he said.
On October 26, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said employers who wish to hire foreign workers through re-hiring programme and apply for expatriate recruitment were required to advertise the vacancies first on the national employment portal, MYFutureJobs, effective tomorrow (November 1).
— Bernama
