ON labour day, the Prime Minister promised to READ : Resolve the minimum wage issue by next month. By doing so, what actually does the Prime Minister expect to achieve is beyond me.
MINIMUM wage in Malaysia, discriminates against Malaysians, as they are paid the same amount of money as newly arrived foreign workers.
MISSING in Malaysia Madani is the Malaysian First pull factor, that will come in handy when the state elections in six states kicks in on June.
WHY not instead incorporate a local qualifying salary for Malaysian workers, so that they can truly be the catalyst to keep the Madani/ ESG ball rolling.
BASICALLY what it boils down to are for firms that hire foreign workers, being obligated by law to pay all its local staff a mandated salary that is higher than that the wage earned by the foreign labour.
BEFORE we shower kindness to others, why not, first be kind to our own country men and women. Let's also learn from Singapore, that not having a minimum wage regime for foreign labour is not an obstacle to recruit labour from abroad.
MADANI Malaysia will be much bigger and better supported by the Malaysian workforce, If Anwar Ibrahim can drive home the point, charity must start from the home.
A progressive wage model for Malaysian, might be just the doze the doctor ordered for Madani Malaysia to move beyond slogan gamesmanship, and into a frame work that actually can be seen to deliver the goods for the Malaysian wage earner.