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Please Present A Parliamentary White Paper On Minimum Wage And Productivity In Malaysia Satement by Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Vice-Chairman and MP for Kepong on the Labour Day statement by the Prime Minister on 2 May 2000 | |||||||
| Recently, much controversy rages about minimum wage in Malaysia. In his Workers' Day message, the Prime Minister Dato' Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Government could not immediately set the minimum wage at RM1,200 as all workers including executives, would then have to be paid more. "Eventually, we will lose our competitiveness and revenue...the country will also lose out," he added. For years, many countries such as the United Kingdom, have debated the pros and cons for minimum wage. This is to protect the workers against exploitation by employers. We would like to narrow the gap between the poor and the rich. One way of doing it is to ensure that the workers take home a decent wage for a decent work done. We need workers and we also need employers. Can we increase productivity without exploiting workers? If we look after the workers, will productivity not increase accordingly? These are some of the questions that arise in the debate. Apparently, the Malaysian Trade Union Congress, MTUC, said that it would propose a revised statutory minimum wage to the Finance and Human Resources Ministries after finding the figure of RM1,200 impractical. The public | |
would like to know the actual proposal from MTUC. Nominal wage rates grew by 5.7 per cent in 1997 but increased at a slower rate of 4.0 per cent in 1998. Labour productivity in the agriculture sector declined from 3.5 per cent in 1996 to 0.1 per cent in 1998 while all the services subsectors recorded positive growth. In August 1996, the Government adopted the Guidelines for the Productivity-Linked Wage Reform System. Does this increase productivity and employment stability? How do these guidelines work? The Government would have to explain how it has implemented them. Hitherto, precious little is known about their effects on employees and employers. Apart from urging the Government to announce the results of the above-stated guidelines, we suggest that it studies the effects of minimum wage on productivity and labour stability as seen in other countries that have the system. How would minimum wage actually affect Malaysia besides the PM's worries about losing competitiveness and revenues? Let us have a Parliamentary White Paper on the comprehensive studies of the effects of minimum wage on those that have the system and its possible effects on Malaysia.
Dr Tan Seng Giaw | |||||
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