Press Digest - MEC is government policy employers told

THE Cabinet on Wednesday discussed the Mandatory Employer Commitment (MEC) but has no intention to review the new ruling which is deemed to have put employers in a tight spot.
MEC, which was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on the last day of 2016 and came into effect the next day, shifts the responsibility of paying the foreign worker levy from workers to employers.
According to a report in Sin Chew Daily today, the Cabinet has directed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Paul Low, who is tasked with MEC's implementation, to hold dialogues with stakeholders to explain the new ruling.
Contacted by the daily, Low said the Cabinet did not order a review of the ruling but merely instructed him to brief stakeholders on its implementation.
"I know many employers have complained about the new ruling, (saying) why we should review it. This is a government policy."
He felt that many employers still do not understand MEC, as the policy is a bit complicated; hence the need to explain it to them.
Low said he would most likely hold a dialogue with the stakeholders next week to explain how the government came to the decision to implement MEC.
On claims by Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan and SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang that he had misled the Cabinet into believing that employers had agreed to paying the levy on foreign workers, Low said, "I don't want to comment, until I have seen them."
Meanwhile, Kang said "there is no need for any explanation, if the government's intention is not to review the new ruling" whereas Shamsuddin said the ruling should be annulled if MEC is the result of Low's misrepresentation to the Cabinet.