Business

Saturday August 8, 2009

Your 10 questions


Human Resources Minister Datuk S. Subramaniam fields the 10 questions posed to him by our readers.

Why did you become a full-time politician instead of leading a comfortable life as a medical specialist? Dr Anand, Perak

As a medical specialist, you have an opportunity to serve the community. Although it provides fulfilment in many aspects, it has its limitations. But as a member of parliament and subsequently parliamentary secretary and now as a minister, it opens a wider arena for me to look at society in a more holistic manner and the opportunity to implement ideas, thoughts and views to improve the lives of people. It was a major decision of course and in many ways, a sacrifice in terms of income and comfort of life.

But I have accepted it in good faith.

What’s your view on raising the retirement age in the private sector to the same level as the public sector, that is, 58? S.C. Yap, Johor Baru

Presently, our Act does not stipulate a specific retirement age for the private sector. It has been left open for the industry to determine. So, there is nothing to stop anyone (in the private sector) from retaining staff till the age of 58 or beyond. It is between the employer and the employee. We have contemplated capping (the retirement age) but based on our discussions with the industry, we have decided to allow for flexibility.

But we are toying with the idea of having a minimum retirement age for the private sector to protect workers against retirement at an unusually younger age.

Datuk S. Subramaniam

How does the Government protect Malaysian employers against troublesome maids and unfair practices by agencies? Karen Goh, Petaling Jaya

Disciplinary and other problems relating to maids can be reported to the police, who can then take action. As far as maids are concerned, for my ministry, we deal with issues between maids and employers such as work conditions, salaries and remuneration; if there’s an issue, we will call both parties to discuss and then take the necessary action. As for maid agencies registered by us, their activities, to some extent, is controlled by the Home Affairs Ministry. If we have reason to believe that there is abuse, we can take action, including terminating their rights to bring in new maids.

What is MIC doing to return the money to those who invested in Maika Holdings shares? Sritharen Kittappa, Klang

From what I’ve been told by the CEO of Maika Holdings, the company wants to return the money to them by disposing some of its assets to get liquid capital, but it has been facing problems because of the injunction imposed on the asset sale. I hope, once this issue is resolved and the assets are disposed, they will be able to repay the shareholders.

What do you think needs to be done to address the country’s dependence on foreign workers? Billy Wong, Shah Alam

The policy is to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country but it’ll have to be done gradually without unduly destabilising the industries by upgrading skills, technology and increasing productivity. One way is to promote greater mechanisation and the usage of technology in the industries.

We need to move towards industries which require less people but higher skills. Once we do this, we can reduce our requirement for foreign workers in the manufacturing sector. But there are areas which will need foreign workers such as the plantations industry.

What are the main changes you have done since your appointment in March last year? P.G. Sheng, Batu Pahat

My first task was to strengthen the existing cooperation among the tripartite partners through smart partnership. The Human Capital Quality Development is a key strategy in strengthening our nation’s economic resilience against the challenging external environment. It is essential that we develop a highly-skilled work force that can remain relevant to market needs and raise our competencies and competitiveness, regardless of the economic cycle.

Under the two stimulus packages, the ministry was allocated RM650mil to spur training and development programmes.

We initiated three types of training programmes to facilitate retrenched workers, unemployed graduates and youth to find employment. We also launched the National Action Plan for Employment (2008-2010) to respond to unemployment and underemployment.

We also worked towards putting an end to low wages in certain sectors such as security, hospitality, electronics and textile and are using the Wages Council to address sectors with low wages. We have introduced the conciliation system under the Industrial Relations Department to reduce the cases referred to the Industrial Court. We implemented the Decent Work Agenda as the Strategic Plan from 2008 to 2010 and embarked on the “Return-to-Work” Rehabilitation Centre and secured land in Malacca for the project. I also instructed the restructuring of Socso, which included beefing up counter and customer services.

Following your appointment (as Minister), you said you had been given “the responsibility to vocalise the needs of the Indians”. How have you done this so far? Mohd Sidek, Seremban

The formation of the Cabinet Committee for Indians heralds a new era for the community. We have held two meetings so far and my ministry was the secretariat. The decisions include setting up a special unit to monitor Tamil schools, particularly to help convert to full-aided status and merge schools with fewer students, enabling AIMST University to receive government grants to sponsor students, securing more taxi and bus permits and better business opportunities and loans, higher intake of Indians in civil service, increase in equity participation and awarding of government contracts to the community.

Subsequently, the Government allocated RM100mil to redevelop Tamil schools, RM20mil for Indian youth development programmes, set a quota of 7.4% in the recruitment of Indians into civil service and intake into public universities, increased the number of PSD scholarship recipients (343 students in 2009 compared to 159 in 2008) and allocated almost RM500mil worth of Amanah Saham Malaysia shares and 15% of Amanah Saham 1Malaysia, to name some.

Also, many plantation workers were paying for electricity at commercial rates, which was unfair. The Labour Department met with Tenaga Nasional Bhd and the latter agreed to provide electricity to the houses via individual meters. I also proposed a fund for estate workers who have worked for over 10 years to help them buy houses upon retirement, similar to the Felda scheme, where the employer sets aside RM100 monthly for each employee.

What do you think is Malaysia’s the most pressing need in developing its human capital? Syed Modi, Malacca

There must be an attitude change. There must also be responsibility and accountability among the younger generation. Tendency to job hop must be minimised or ceased completely.

To be globally competitive, graduates need to enhance their employability by improving soft skills and linguistic skills.

There is an urgent need to close the knowledge gap to nurture creative and competitive human resources. Today, nations do not compete on products and services alone but with brains, education and knowhow. Competitiveness that relies on cheap labour is only temporary.

What has surprised you the most about your job as Human Resources Minister? Tan Wai Khoon, Kuantan

The scope of the ministry. I was under the impression that it was just a Labour Ministry. But when I came in, I saw that the scope was so much wider and it involved meeting the nation’s needs in terms of human capital development and human resource management.

  • E-mail this story
  • Print this story