TRADE and industry groups in the country are against any government decision to bring in African workers, citing social and cultural issues.
They urged the government to come up with a new policy on foreign labour, saying 30% of small and medium enterprises may have to close shop should the problem of labour shortage worsens.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the proposal to allow workers from African nations to work in the country is just a suggestion and the government has not made any decision.
Reports on Friday quoting Human Resources Minister M. Kula Segaran as saying he had been discussing with the ambassadors of African nations on the likelihood of bringing African workers into the country to meet the shortage of labour in the plantation industry, drew knee-jerk reactions from industry players.
According to a report in Nanyang Siang Pau today, Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said African workers might not be able to adapt to the local customs and practices, adding that the number of criminal cases involving people from African nations in Malaysia did not leave a good impression on potential employers.
“We are worried that should we bring them (African workers) into the country, their undesirable culture would impact negatively on locals as well as workers from other countries,“ he said in voicing his objection to any move to import African workers.
Shamsuddin urged employers to embrace mechanisation and to train their workers to raise productivity without having to increase the number of workers.
SME Association of Malaysia president Datuk Michael Kang said it is better to open the labour market to Chinese nationals than to bring in African workers, citing the relatively high rate of crime committed by Africans in the country.
On the plus point of Chinese nationals, he said they have the same customs and practices as the Chinese here and are hardworking.
