KUALA LUMPUR: Efforts to reduce Malaysia's dependence on foreign workers and improve local livelihoods are being hampered by manufacturers who continue to offer minimum wages despite recording hundreds of millions of ringgit in profits.
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said some manufacturers remained reluctant to offer local workers even RM2,000 in monthly wages, preferring instead to maintain starting salaries at the RM1,700 minimum wage.
He said the problem extended to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) graduates, who were sometimes offered wages comparable to those paid to foreign workers despite possessing technical skills.
“Some of these companies make hundreds of millions of ringgit in profits, yet when it comes to paying local workers RM2,000, they refuse and still insist on offering a starting salary of RM1,700.
"They want to pay TVET graduates the same wages as foreign workers," he said in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Nov 2).
Johari said the situation was further complicated by differences in accommodation arrangements, as foreign workers were often housed in employer-provided facilities while local employees had to bear their own rental expenses.
He said Malaysia's long-standing dependence on foreign labour had become a critical issue, with the country currently employing 2.6 million foreign workers.
Despite the government's intention to reduce that number under the 13th Malaysia Plan, he said the reliance persisted because companies that had operated in Malaysia for 10 or 20 years continued to seek foreign labour.
"Many of these issues actually stem from our policies being overly flexible," he said.
Johari stressed that foreign workers should primarily be employed in jobs categorised as dangerous, difficult and dirty (3D), rather than becoming the preferred workforce across manufacturing industries.
He said the government was also seeking to ensure that more than 400,000 individuals trained through TVET programmes could secure employment in local industries.
However, he rejected suggestions that Malaysians were unwilling to take up certain jobs because they were lazy.
He pointed to the approximately 100,000 Malaysians who travelled to Singapore daily for employment, including those holding diplomas, degrees and master's qualifications.
"Why do they take up those jobs, even though the work is more or less similar to what is done in our factories?
"Because there is economic value," he said.
Johari said local workers were unlikely to accept jobs that did not provide sufficient economic returns, particularly when their living expenses differed significantly from those of foreign workers.
He also cited Malaysians taking up jobs as e-hailing drivers as an example of workers seeking employment that offered better economic value.
"If the job does not provide economic value to them, they will not take it," he said.
Johari said the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030), launched in September 2023, aimed to raise the median monthly salary in the manufacturing sector to RM4,510 by 2030.
He acknowledged that wage improvements would have to be implemented progressively but questioned why some highly profitable manufacturers remained unwilling to offer even RM2,000 to local employees.
He said the government was taking a stricter approach towards applications for new manufacturing licences, particularly for businesses seeking to undertake activities already carried out by existing companies.
“Allowing more such businesses to operate while depending heavily on foreign labour would only increase the number of foreign workers”, he said.
Johari said companies approaching the ministry or the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) would be informed that foreign workers should be employed only for 3D jobs, while other positions should offer appropriate wages.
He was responding to Tan Hong Pin (PH-Bakri), who raised concerns that manufacturers were being encouraged to relocate to countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam when seeking access to cheaper labour.
Tan said some manufacturers had already reached high levels of automation but still required manual labour, prompting him to ask whether the ministry would consider greater flexibility in foreign worker policies according to industry needs.
Johari acknowledged that resolving the issue would not be easy but warned that failure to reform existing policies could have long-term consequences.
He said the country's 2.6 million documented foreign workers did not include the substantial number of undocumented workers.
"If we do not resolve these policies, it will damage the country in the future," he said.
