Be a part of the solution FMM, don’t be a part of the problem

By admin-s Last updated Oct 30, 2024

When you start your business, and you decide to sell your stuff cheap by making everybody in your company work twice as long for half the pay, that is understandable, but if even after decades, all you are capable of doing is make money by making people work longer for less pay, do you even know what you are doing?

Nehru Sathiamoorthy

The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers’ (FMM) supposedly expressed “shock” over the government’s “unexpected” announcement that all foreign workers would be required to contribute to EPF from 2025.

FMM president Soh Thian Lai on Monday (28 Oct) said it was caught off guard by the announcement when the 2025 budget was tabled last Friday, saying the government did not engage stakeholders prior to this.

Soh also supposedly lamented the lack of clarity on the plan, saying this has caused great concern within the business community.

Well, to alleviate FMM’s shock, let me just state that when the government decided to bring in millions of foreign workers into Malaysia, they did not consult the working class either, who are obviously a stakeholder in the matter.

These millions of foreign workers did not take up jobs of the owner classes or the manufacturers. They took up the jobs of the working class. The fact that these foreign workers are being paid an exploited rate, and have next to no social protections, did not stagnate the wages and salaries of the CEOs and managing directors for decades. It stagnated the wages and salaries of the working class for decades. These millions of foreign workers also did not compete for or hiked up the rent or crowded the space that the upper classes occupied. They competed for and hiked up the rent and crowded the space that the working class occupied.

Despite the fact that local workers are obviously a stakeholder in the matter, I am more than sure that no trade unions or working-class organisations were consulted before the previous government decided on letting these millions of foreign workers into the country. Instead, they just talked to organisations like FMM, and decided to let in whatever number of foreign workers that the likes of FMM wanted, regardless of how it will upend the lives of the working class.

You know why this happened?

It happened because the previous government thought that it is by satisfying the needs and requirements of organisations like FMM that our economy will grow and our country will move forward.

The previous government so believed in the skills and abilities of organisations like FMM and its members, that they repeated the talking points of organisations like FMM to the working and middle class as if it were some sort of gospel truth. They told us that we have to bear with the influx of foreign workers, because our industries and manufactures need them and we need to satisfy the requirements of our industries and manufacturers, because it is only if our industries and manufacturers are satisfied that good things will happen to the people and the country. They told us that we should not expect too much in terms of wages because if our wages are high, our industries and manufacturers won’t be competitive.

On our part, we have been doing what the previous governments have been telling us for decades. We bit the bullet, swallowed the bitterness and sacrificed our interest and prospects, and in return, what did we get from it?

Nothing.

As it turns out, organisations like FMM and its members might talk a lot and talk with a great deal of confidence, but they might not actually know what they are talking about. That is why despite what they say, what actually happens is often a whole other thing.

Despite giving them decades, organisations like the FMM and their members don’t seem to have much idea on how to get Malaysia out of the “middle income” trap and create high value products and services that will propel Malaysia to the next level.

Even after giving them decades of time, most of them still depend on creating cheap and low value products and services at high volume using exploited labour in order to create wealth.

The more we listen to the likes of FMM for advice of what is the right and proper thing to do, all that happens is that we are increasingly finding ourselves being overtaken by countries that we used to lead.

Despite their obvious failures, organisations like FMM and their members still have the gumption to come to us and ask us to give them more time and opportunity to prove themselves by doing the same thing that they have already done for decades.

According to Einstein: “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

Thankfully, under the leadership of PMX Anwar Ibrahim, the current government has finally decided to cure itself of the insanity of listening to organisations like FMM and start thinking of new approaches to take the country forward.

Rather than keep on listening to the advice of organisations like FMM, and entangle ourselves further in the middle income trap, to the point that we not only fall behind even more countries in the world, but find ourselves falling back into the status of a third world economy that took our ancestors generations to rise out from, it is most rational, advisable and reasonable for Prime Minister Anwar and his team to try some other way of developing the economy and taking the country forward.

Rather than keep our faith on the skills and abilities of the members of organisations like FMM – who frankly speaking, seem to have maxed out on their ability to create wealth through the generation of low value and cheap goods and services through the use of exploited labour – maybe it is time that the country puts its faith on the entrepreneurship and ingenuity of its middle and working class to power the country ahead.

To tap into the ingenuity and entrepreneurship of the middle and working class, both domestic or foreign, you need a confident, free and motivated middle and working class, and for this, increased wage and social protection is paramount.

The initiatives announced by PMX Anwar in the 2025 budget, to boost wages and increase social protection for the middle and working class, while revolutionary and confidence inspiring, is just the beginning.

Rather than cry and complain at this initial stage itself, it is more advisable for organisations like FMM and its members to better utilise their time and attention to strengthen themselves, because if even at this stage itself they are already quaking and shivering, I fear for what will happen to them in the future.

Rather than threaten the government that foreign investors are not going to come to our country if the government continues to do right by the workers in the country, I think it is better for FMM to take listen to some good advice, reflect on its shortcomings and realise that it is its own failures that has caused the government, nation and people to lose faith in its approach.

I am not sure whether FMM gets it or not, but we don’t want the sort of low quality investors who come into the country because they expect to find cheap and exploited labour anymore. These kinds of third world investors are taking our country down, not bringing our country up. If we want to go up, we need to get a better quality of investors, and to get a better quality of investors, the first thing we need to do is not see these third world investors as some form of asset that we should bend over backwards to welcome to our shores.

If FMM can get with the program, open its mind and improve its line of thinking, maybe the government, the nation and the people will find its advice worthwhile in the future.

In the meantime, it is perhaps best that FMM advises its members to do what the working class have been doing for decades, namely bite the bullet, swallow the bitterness and forget about its own interest and prospect, while focusing on doing what is good and right for the country and the people as a form of national service.

Whatever wage increase or added social protection that the government wants it to do, FMM should just advise its members to do it without groaning and moaning like the sky is going to fall.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysia-Today