Pressing Need To Fix The Economy
Over the next three months or half a year at most, when the manufacturing and service industries can no longer withstand the impact of drastically reduced orders and businesses, large scale layoffs will begin to take place.
By LIM SUE GOAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily
One of the objectives of the mini-budget tabled by Najib in the Parliament is to reduce unemployment rate and reliance on foreign workers.
That said, foreign workers keep flooding our labour market, while estate and construction employers say Malaysians generally shy away from manual and dirty jobs.
Probably because we have not yet seen the full impact of the global financial crisis, that many still couldn't quite feel the gravity of the current situation.
That explains why some people have earlier suggested to construct two brand new low-cost carrier terminals while now asking to bring in 50,000 more Bangladeshi workers.
Well, things still don't look that bad for the time being, but with the European and American economies sinking deep into recession, a depression of global scale is just a stone's throw away.
The Malaysian economy, therefore, has yet to see the real bottom.
Malaysia will never be insulated from the world, and we must be psychologically prepared for the worst.
Over the next three months or half a year at most, when the manufacturing and service industries can no longer withstand the impact of drastically reduced orders and businesses, large scale layoffs will begin to take place.
That is when the country will truly feel the full-blown power of this round of financial crisis. And when China, Europe, US and Singapore begin to recover, we could as well be the last to come around, as we slide into recession later than other countries.
To bring in more foreign workers at a time when the economy is deteriorating is to put the country's destiny at the point of the knife.
Without jobs, these foreign workers not only will be rendered homeless, they will also rob to survive. If they are caught, we may have to fork out some money to repatriate them.
When unemployment figures are racing upward, can young Malaysians still afford to be choosy?
To rescue the ailing economy, it is imperative that we discard our carefree and indifferent attiude. Not only must the salaried and employers stay alert, public servants must also be cautious.
When putting the stimulus package into implementation, civil servants must realise that to rescue the economy is like to rescue a house on fire: any negligence, indolence and extravagance could be fatal.
Fortunately, the home minister has cancelled the plan of bringing in additional 55,000 Bangladeshi workers and said it would not issue any more new permits.
It takes the entire nation's effort to put the economy back on the track of growth again. We must also fine-tune our mentality. If we still take things for granted, not even the Almighty could come to our rescue!
