KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 – Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz questioned today Putrajaya’s flip-flop on its foreign worker hiring plan, saying the sudden change of heart would create confusion and fuel public distrust in the government.
The former international trade and industry minister said this could have been avoided if the plan had been adequately studied beforehand and relevant stakeholder views were taken into consideration.
She noted that it was only yesterday that it was reported that Malaysia had signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dhaka for the planned intake of 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers.
“But even before the ink on that agreement could dry, a statement was issued today saying that the hiring of all foreign workers, including those from Bangladesh, has been frozen.
“What happened?” she asked in a Facebook posting.
The Umno veteran then questioned if Putrajaya had done due diligence before agreeing to the deal by considering the views of all relevant stakeholders and studying the possible implications of the intake such as its social impact, security concerns and costs to the country.
She said the matter should have been exhaustively and objectively discussed to ensure that the plan would bring only benefit to the country and its people.
“It is situations like these that cause people to lose confidence… the private sector to be confused and worried and finding it hard to accept whatever the government says… and it then becomes a big issue, an unnecessary burden,” she added.
Earlier this morning, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Putrajaya is freezing its recruitment foreign workers, including the 1.5 million Bangladeshis offered by Dhaka.
He added that the move was also to urge employers to hire local workers and that the moratorium will remain in effect until Putrajaya is convinced about the actual manpower requirements in the various sectors locally.
His announcement came after Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot impressed upon Malaysians the need to bring in foreign workers to address what he said were critical labour shortages in the manufacturing and plantation sectors.
Putrajaya has been facing resistance and criticism from several civil and trade groups over its plan to bring in the foreign workers in significant numbers.
Workers groups such as the Malaysian Trade Unions Congress (MTUC) said locals should be given priority for jobs. It acknowledged Malaysians’ tendency to reject 3D jobs, but argued that it was only because of the low pay.
