Reports by IMRAN HILMY, FATIMAH ZAINAL and SHARON LING
GEORGE TOWN: There’s trouble brewing in food paradise. Penang’s hawkers are being forced to close shop, no thanks to the acute foreign worker shortage.
The Penang government’s decision in 2014 to bar foreign workers from working as cooks in hawker stalls has only added to the problem.
Several food complexes and coffeeshops have put up banners asking hawkers to set up stalls at their premises but there have been few takers as hawkers cannot find workers to help them.
“Without any foreign workers, I can’t operate my stall as I have to do the marketing, cooking, preparation and serving all by myself,” said TH Ang, a hawker selling noodles.
“It’s hard to find locals to do this work. I used to have two female foreign workers to help me before the pandemic. They have gone back and cannot return.
“Back then, they served customers and helped to wash plates while I did the cooking.”
Penang has long been known as a hawker paradise for its mouth-watering array of local street food that cannot be found anywhere else.
A coffeeshop owner, who wanted to be known only as Su, said since her Indonesian workers returned home last year, she had not been able to find replacements.
“Sometimes, I have to shorten my business hours because of that.
“I now rely on my relatives to help me so that I am not forced to shut down my shop in Ayer Itam.
“I also cannot afford to pay the minimum wage as ordered by the government. I can only pay my staff daily wages,” she added.
Penang Hawker Association secretary Datuk Toh Guan Bee said the problem of foreign workers’ shortage at Chinese coffeeshops and hawker stalls was probably due to the state government’s ruling that has barred foreigners from working as cooks.
“When they work as cooks, they can get higher salaries.
“But with the ruling, many have either gone back to their countries or taken job offers at factories that offer higher salaries,” he said.
He advised coffeeshop operators and hawkers to try and get locals to work as cooks and not to hire any illegals.
State human resources committee chairman Dr P. Ramasamy, who is also Penang deputy chief minister II, said the foreign worker shortage was a national problem.
“We need some 1.2 million foreign workers in various sectors, but only a small portion has been approved,” he said.
He said the shortage might affect the state’s image as a food paradise.
“The problem is that source countries are balking when supplying workforce to the country.”
He stressed that the Federal Government should work hard on improving the working and living conditions of foreign workers, and be more transparent with the recruitment process.
