KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 2 — The Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) has objected to any proposal to allow foreign graduates to work in Malaysia to cover the shortage of skilled manpower.
Its president Datuk Adnan Mat said the proposal not only negates the opportunities of the locals but also harms the nation, which has invested heavily through local institutions of higher learning to produce highly skilled local graduates.
The policy of allowing foreign graduates to fill job opportunities in the high-tech sector is a step backwards and may result in local graduates receiving lower wages and increasing the unemployment rate among locals in the future.
“Various programmes have been created by local institutions of higher learning, with a large investment value, to produce highly skilled local graduates, in line with the government’s aspirations.
“The country is currently on the right track in producing highly skilled local graduates, and no longer needs to depend on foreign labour,” he said in a statement.
The Investment, Trade, and Industry Ministry has recently considered a proposal to allow foreign graduates of local higher education institutions to work in the country to cover the shortage of skilled manpower in several sectors, including electrical and electronics (E&E).
Adnan also questioned some employers, who are more willing to pay high wages to foreign workers when the quality of local workers is better.
“Double standards in this wage issue resulted in many Malaysians choosing to migrate abroad,” he said.
Adnan also asked the government to enforce a more reasonable minimum wage for local highly skilled workers to support human resource development policies implemented by local higher education institutions.
The data collected through the Central Database Hub (Padu) system can be used as a backup to analyse the capacity of the country’s energy resources, and the appropriate wage rates for Malaysians in the future.
— Bernama
