LETTER | Stop pandering to big business, improve labour laws

LETTER | The unity government has promised reform and to an extent has delivered the reform promised to the people of Malaysia.

The financial problems afflicting the country owing to decades of poor policymaking, corruption and an ineffective administration have been called out.

It is no longer being buried and the public is not being misled or having their intelligence and integrity insulted through any obfuscation of the truth.

The jury is still out though where it concerns whether real change is affected. The acute cost-of-living crisis has not been solved nor abated.

The B40 and M40 communities are still being left behind by the yawning wealth and income gap in the country.

Businesses, particularly big business, still hold sway over government policy and decision-making.

One area totally neglected is that of the rights, safeguards and protection of workers.

We have in place a minimum wage that is woefully inadequate, and a government machinery that is working with big business to muzzle the voices of workers and trade unions through nefarious means.

Is the government trying to go down the path that Singapore has taken in stifling the voices of workers and trade unions by establishing a pliant trade union movement?

When in opposition, parties such as PKR and DAP championed the need for a strong trade union movement to deal with employers on an even keel.

Now, when in government, an about-turn seems to have been taken. It is a case of riding the tiger of the left when politically convenient, only to make a sharp right turn when assuming the levers of power.

Is the government wanting to create a trade union movement that is pliant, and which will serve its political interest, and not champion the rights of the workers?

While that may have worked in Singapore due to factors peculiar to itself, it will not work in a country like Malaysia with its more diverse socio-economic makeup.

It's a colossal political miscalculation and will bear on the government unfavourably.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim should ensure that his government truly understands the type of reform he has promised and seeks to deliver.

Such reform cannot be achieved through the government cosying up with big business at the expense of the common people.

The prime minister should perhaps, take over the Human Resources Ministry for a short period to set the course right.

The writer is the international labour adviser at the Social Protection Contributors' Advisory Association Malaysia (SPCAAM).

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