Malaysia bans foreign recruitment

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Malaysia has banned the hiring of new foreign workers in factories, shops and other services.
The government said the move was to protect its citizens from unemployment during the economic downturn.

It has also told employers that if they want to cut back their workforce they must sack foreign staff first.

Malaysia is a leading Asian importer of labour, with more than
two million foreign workers - mostly from Indonesia and other South
East Asian countries.

The ban on new foreign workers is indefinite and will affect key
manufacturing and services sectors which currently employ about half of
Malaysia's foreign workforce.

Exemptions may be given to those working in highly skilled service industries and factories.

The decision was announced late on Wednesday by the Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

While I understand the government's empathy with its people, I feel it has stepped overboard...Hiring & firing should be under the power of the company, not the state...

this is what i call protectionism. we see every country practising the same ideology once their interests come under threat. to protect our country's interests, sometimes we need to resort to such alternative. i dont blame the government for greenlighting this. even the US, the so called land of freedom and opportunity is practising it. the americans are calling for more protection from their government since their economy is crumbling and fraught with high unemployment rate and the housing mortgage crisis, etc. i dont think the government has gone overboard with this. i believe in such situation, our people's interests should be at the top of the list.

Meh I agree with you then...This would make an interesting debate topic

yeah, certainly would.

yeah, i totally agree..
it is true that the company has the right to firing/hiring foreign workers..
But, if the circumtances changes, the citizens comes first..
Thats why we have the Ministry of Human Resources.. more like to policy maker...

sebenarnya aku pun setuju ngan tindakan kerajaan ini...ini merupakan salah satu jalan penyelesaian utk menangani masalah p'angguran dan memberi lebih banyak peluang kpd pekerja tempatan.seterusnya, ia akan mengurangkan masalah2 sosial sbb ramai sangat pekerja asing.

aku difahamkan bahawa kerajaan akan mengurangkan pekerja asing di negara ini sacara beransur2...

Yeah well...Sucks when the economy hits us this way, huh? Apparently we are relatively buffered because the economic policies in Malaysia is different plus our financial sector isn't a prime global spot, but things will get worst. Keep an eye out on mid-2009. That's when we'll see if things will improve or get worse.

i dont think our economy is relatively buffered at all. our neighbors are starting to feel the impacts already especially singapore. and hell we're gonna end up like them too either way. the recession in the US is slowly catching up with us whether we like it or not.

Singapore is heavily affected because they practically "float" their financial business. A huge portion of their economy is in financial banking etc. Malaysia? Not so much. We still have that relative calm, people are still buying stuff.

I was told that by mid-2009, your portfolio (in shares, investments etc) better be around 50% full, after that depending on market trends you can either acquire more or sell.

^you probably dont feel it cause you havent seen it rowanlim. many of my relatives have been hit so hard by the economy. its the same thing going on at the moment. if you say we are relatively buffered, who's our number one trading partner?

Things are bad now, but comparatively, we've not experienced the crunch like so many of our neighbors have...yet.

^like i said, we're on our way there whether you like it or not. thats why the 7billion dollar bailout has been forked out to offset the recession. its here and our economy isnt as recession-proof as you'd like to believe it is.

I never said we're NOT on our way. I meant that this recession could bring good too. If we hedge our bets properly. Economics stuff, this is what an economist told me, I'm just relaying it

^no its not as good as you'd like to believe it is. and not all economists make good choices or good judgments. look at the US. their economists are the best in the world, yet they took the wrong turn on this one. we are not buffered at all considering our country's grim economic outlook even if you cut back on certain things. NO INVESTMENTS=NO JOBS. and many investors have been reluctant to invest in anything at all. factories closing, property values slumping. i dont know why but even if they cut back on certain things, its still gonna be bleak for the future of our economy. we depend so much on FDI. and what? we're gonna wait for the investments from arab countries? dont forget that they are losing so much money now cause of the slump in oil prices too. the so-called asian dragon, china is also still reeling from the credit crunch in the US. they are scared of the WORST to come, hence they gave in to US pressure to lend them some liquidity. many economists think even if the big boss goes down under, the rippling effect wont be felt across asia. but they were wrong again when japan and korea followed suit right after the filing of bankruptcy by some major financial institutions in the US. many economists believed that the US economy was capable of weathering the credit meltdown, and they were wrong again. there are just too many businesses waiting to be bailed out. in malaysia, we might not see it cause the government has been really careful in covering everything up. go out and look around.

Oh c'mon I'm not being stupid, I know it'll get worst. I'm just saying that if we hedge our best, we can make something out of this crisis.