KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — The Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) signed last month between Malaysia and Japan will see Malaysian workers going to Japan for work and to hone their skills further so that they can contribute to the local labour market upon their return.
Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia Katsuhiko Takahashi said the MoC did not mean that Japan is going to absorb labour from Malaysia.
“The basic idea of the programme (MoC) is to make them work in Japan for a specific period of time (around three to five years), among others in the hospitality and agriculture sectors. Usually, after gaining skills, those Malaysians will come back to the local labour market.
“This (programme) is not a system to absorb labour forces from Malaysia to Japan, but this is rather a value-added quality and journey where we provide them training and encourage them to come back and serve their own country,” he said after paying a courtesy call on Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama)’s Chairman Senator Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi at its headquarters here on Monday (June 27)
Takahashi added that although there is a possibility that Malaysians could become permanent residents in Japan, the MoC’s main purpose is to benefit both sides.
He was responding to a query about concerns raised by local manufacturers that the MoC could further exacerbate the country’s brain drain problems and worsen manpower shortages in local industries.
The MoC was signed between Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan and Japanese Justice Minister Yoshihisa Furukawa on May 26.
On May 28, Saravanan announced in a statement that a joint committee will be set up to implement the MoC where the exchange of the MoC documents was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida on May 27.
The MoC will act as the best platform for eligible skilled Malaysian workers to work in the advanced technology-based employment ecosystem in Japan, which is identified as a country that offered high wages to skilled workers, Saravanan added.
In another development, Takahashi hoped the tourism sector between the two countries will gradually recover especially after Japan reopened officially its borders to tourists on June 10, the first time since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
— Bernama
