Doubling foreign worker levy may kill business

The Government should reconsider its decision to double the levy on foreign workers as this may end up hurting businesses, MCA Youth chief Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said.
He said since the decision was announced as part of the RM60bil “mini-Budget” on March 10, the movement had received complaints from various associations.
“Some 20 groups including the Federation of Malaysia Chinese Guilds Association, restaurant associations, retailers and the SMI (Small and Medium Industries) Association, have written to say that such a move would have a negative impact.
“Instead of achieving the Government’s objective of reducing foreign workers and giving jobs to locals, this may raise more problems such as affecting businesses and operations,” he told reporters here at the Parliament lobby Wednesday.
He claimed this would kill a lot of businesses, which are already suffering from the current economic downturn.
Dr Wee said statistics show that 35.3% of the two million foreign workers in the country worked in the manufacturing sector while another 10.3% were employed in the services sector. He did not cite the source of his statistics.
“Both these two sectors contribute a total of 83.6% to the Gross Domestic Product.”
Many of the associations, added Dr Wee, also complained that they had difficulties finding locals to replace their foreign workers.
“MCA Youth is in support of such a move if it actually proves to help retrenched locals but our feedback is that despite advertisments, many are still reluctant to work in restaurants or factories,” he said.
Dr Wee said the associations wanted to appeal to the Government to either postpone the implementation of the levy or cancel it entirely.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had said when tabling the mini-budget that the move was to reduce the country’s dependency on foreign workers as well as clear up jobs for locals who had been retrenched.
Dr Wee said the movement had prepared a memorandum to be presented to Najib, also the Finance Minister, on the matter.