Appoint clean and trustworthy ministers

LETTER | After a week of political turmoil in the country which has disrupted the life of Malaysians quite a bit, the King has made a decision and Muhyiddin Yasin is the 8th prime minister.

We will have no choice but to respect the King’s decision in the spirt of Rukun Negara and give space to the new PM to administer the country as there is a dire need to come out of the regressive situation we are in which is affecting workers adversely.

While there is some unhappiness on the decision, MTUC wishes to congratulate the PM and wish him the best in his new job. However we wish to remind him that his huge task has just begun. The priority is to rebuild the nation and heal the wounds.

At a time when Covid-19 is wreaking havoc around the globe and adversely affecting workers, Malaysia needs to stop the excessive politicking and start looking after the workers’ and their families’ needs that require urgent attention.

We urge the new government to make sure the employers do not take advantage of Covid 19 and dictate terms to the government. The government has to be strong as a weak government will result in political instability and further affect the political instability.

As a result, this will further affect the economy and workers will be the eventual losers. The poor will become poorer and the rich richer in this scenario.

We welcome the PM’s commitment to appoint clean and trustworthy ministers who will work for the rakyat instead of becoming kleptocrats.

We wish to draw the attention of the PM on the tough times being faced by workers and the threatening possibility of them losing their jobs are being laid off.

In this context, we urge the prime minister to pay special attention in picking the next human resources minister to ensure the rights of workers and unions are always upheld.

The last minister had been difficult with the MTUC as he pushed through bad laws when amending the Industrial Relations Act. He failed to consult the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) where the MTUC and the MEF are represented. He ignored the spirit of tripartism as contained in the ILO charter.

The changes will lead to union-busting and result in weak unions. As such, the MTUC is calling for the amendments to be repealed or brought back to the NLAC for a review to make the damaging changes that were passed.

The RM20 billion stimulus package announced by the previous PM did not address some of the needs of the workers and one of it includes our request for a revolving fund to provide them soft loans to help them settle outstanding loans as their income has been reduced with cuts in overtime among others.

We urge the PM to appoint a human resources minister who understands the plight of workers and not one who goes about sanctioning state union-busting. We need someone who can empathise with the plight of the downtrodden workers who are struggling to make ends meet.

Under these circumstances, the MTUC is proposing that a monthly Cost of Living Allowance (Cola) is introduced by the government for all workers in the B40 and M40 group. The facts is these workers are indeed struggling for survival with the ever rise in cost of living.

There is also a dire need for the new government to draw up a medical insurance scheme for all Malaysians. This is to ensure quality and prompt healthcare reaches all Malaysians irrespective of their position in society.

All Malaysians should have equal access to healthcare as this is a hallmark of a caring and fair government. Right now, the access is very lopsided with the rich getting the best treatment while the poor struggle or wait for long periods for access.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.