Malaysia is one of Asia's biggest employers of foreign labour. But recently, cases of deaths, abuse and forced labour have come to light. What is going on? Who is protecting these migrant workers?
Its president, Syed Shahir Syed Mohamud, said the private sector should use
the government as a benchmark as far as wages were concerned.
<p>"The government is the single largest employer in the country with 1.2
million staff.</p>
<p>"When someone wants to see changes in the country, he or she will look
to the government and see what they are doing. There has to be a pay rise as
well in the private sector."</p>
<p>He applauded the long overdue pay hike but said it should have occurred much
earlier due to rising cost of living.</p>
<p>"Looking back at the past two to three years, there has been a tremendous
increase in the cost of living, especially in the prices of rice, petroleum
products, highway tolls and utilities."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) welcomed the
salary increase and hoped that it would make civil servants happy.</p>
<p>Its Centre of Public Policy Studies chairman Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said
better wages should encourage civil servants to improve the delivery system
and increase productivity.</p>
<p>"If productivity improves, so will government revenue. If not, the budget
will be thrown off-balance."</p>
<p>He agreed with Syed Shahir that private sector workers should also get a pay
hike.</p>
<p>"The private sector can now ask for more pay but all this must be related
to meritocracy and increased productivity in order to make Malaysia more competitive,"
he said.</p>
<p><i>Source: http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/National/20070523075806/Article/index_html</i>
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