Proposal to set up Sabah Labour Advisory Council long overdue, says employers' association

KOTA KINABALU: The proposal to set up a Sabah Labour Advisory Council is right and much overdue, says the Sabah Employers Association (SEA).

SEA president Yap Cheen Boon (pic) said in a statement on Monday (Jan 16) that the association has been calling for such a council for many years, as Sabah does not have a dedicated Human Resources Ministry

He said this advisory council can act as a platform for the collation of data and feedback to recommending policies in line with the state’s situation, and to allow government, employers and employees to interact inclusively befitting the tripartite principle.

“SEA strongly supports the establishment of the Sabah Labour Advisory Council, as mooted by Deputy Human Resources Minister Mustapha Sakmud,” he said.

Yap said Sabah’s employment figure is the second largest in the country, with almost 1.9 million employed persons across all sectors which is equivalent to about 13% of total employed persons for Malaysia, despite a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution of less than 6%.

Evidently, the state is still dominated by labour intensive industries such as plantation and service, which have performed badly since the Covid-19 pandemic, with Sabah now having the country’s highest unemployment rate of 9.1%, or almost 190,000 unemployed persons, he said.

He said now that the country was seeing economic recovery, and the state actively attracting international and domestic investors, the need for labour related solutions to satisfy growth in both oil and gas and manufacturing sectors is pertinent.

“SEA foresees the Sabah Labour Consultative Council to address multiple human resource issues; ensuring employers’ compliance, control labour costs, elevating workers’ income by matching real skill sets with industry needs to increase productivity, expediting economic recovery with more employment opportunities,” said Yap.

The Council will serve as a platform to deliberate on policies or laws, with Sabah’s unique situation taken into consideration instead of often adopting peninsular Malaysia’s measures lock, stock and barrel, he said.

He said one example being the impending Employment Act amendments without taking into account Sabah’s economic difficulty to adopt some of the changes.

“SEA urges the state government to setup the Council without delay, with the first item on its agenda to review the Employment Act amendments,” said Yap.

Recently, the Human Resources Ministry proposed setting up the Sabah Labor Advisory Council to ensure that all existing labour laws can be implemented more effectively.

Mustapha said the advisory council is still in the initial proposal stage but is confident that it will be successful and ensure balanced economic development in Sabah.

He said this proposal is seen to be able to create a good development for stakeholders, especially employers throughout Sabah.