Reconsider locals-only ruling on cooks, say restaurateurs

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has been urged to reconsider its proposal to enforce a local-only ruling for cooks at restaurants.
Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association (Primas) president Muthusamy Thirument said the move should be done in stages, given the cost and time to train locals to maintain the same cooking standards for their customers.
He noted that Human Resource Minister M. Kulasegaran had agreed to discuss the matter further with the ministry's policy division officers after a meeting with nine other business operators on Thursday.
"This shows that he is willing to hear us. We are only interested in finding a solution," he said in a news conference held at Primas' headquarters, here today.
He said the meeting held recently was to submit a memorandum and discuss the shortage of workers in the restaurant sector, together with other stakeholders as well.
"He had agreed to have a roundtable discussion at the ministry with the relevant officers and those from the industry (to discuss) the issue in detail," he said.
Present with him was Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association president Ayob Khan Muhamad Yakub, who said job fairs could be held to encourage locals to work as cooks.
He said a cook's average salary can reach up to RM7,000 and those who make roti canai can earn between RM1,600 and RM1,800 per month.
He also hoped that a quota of 10 foreign workers in a restaurant would be considered.
Yesterday, Kulasegaran said that no definite decision had been made on employing only local cooks for restaurants.
His reply came following an outcry from restaurant operators, consumer groups and netizens.
He also clarified that the ruling only applies to restaurants that serve local food and stressed that the ruling would not affect restaurants that serve specialty food.
Kulasegaran said coffee shops, Indian-Muslim restaurants and hawker stalls are categorised as local outlets, as such their workforce should consist of Malaysians only.
He said the objective of the proposal was to reduce dependency on foreign labour, in line with Pakatan Harapan's election manifesto.