SHAH ALAM: Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry is set to coordinate with Home Ministry and state governments of Selangor and Negri Sembilan to solve problems related to foreign workers and water supply.
"My ministry will work closer with the relevant authorities to smooth out the hiring of foreign workers. We will also look into water disruption and shortage faced by glove manufacturers with the state governments," its Minister Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong said today.
Mah was speaking to reporters after a working visit to Top Glove Corp Bhd's research and development facilities and Factory 25 here.
In February, the Home Ministry reportedly suspended the recruitment of foreign workers, only to partially allow hiring of new foreign workers to four sectors including manufacturing in May. To date, manufacturers such as Top Glove said it continue to face labour shortage.
Manufacturers have, time and again, appealed to the government that sudden policy change in the hiring of foreign workers were bad for business.
“Malaysia needs a more consistent and transparent policy on hiring foreign workers so that we can continue to set up factories and produce more medical gloves for hospitals all over the world,” said Top Glove Corp chairman Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai.
“We're investing heavily to improve on productivity through machinery automation. But we still need foreign workers to meet customer orders,” he said.
Lim also highlighted irregular supply of water in Selangor and Negri Sembilan, which from time to time, had raised costs and disrupted glove manufacturers' business. "It is very expensive to transport water to factories when there are disruptions."
According to data provided by the Statistics Department, the manufacturing sector contributed RM626 billion last year, thus making it a key economic driver, which also accounted for half of Malaysia’s RM1.16 trillion economy and more than 80 per cent of RM780 billion total exports.
"It is very important for Malaysia to continue incentivising manufacturing. Without government support, it is difficult for our industry to continue growing," Lim said.
Last month, Top Glove said it doubled its factory capacity in Thailand, thanks to favourable tax breaks and easier hire of workers there.
"We appeal to Malaysian government to be more business-friendly in this very competitive economic environment. We want to continue investing in our home country, too," Lim said.
Top Glove, which is listed in Malaysia and Singapore, is the world’s largest rubber glove manufacturer. With a production capacity of 47 billion gloves annually, it commands a quarter of the world’s glove market.