The Malaysian government will continue to introduce measures to reduce dependency on foreign workers in all sectors, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.
“Among the measures include the newly introduced policy that requires employers to pay for the cost of levy of their foreign workers, instead of requiring the foreign workers to pay for the levy themselves,” the Deputy PM was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying on May 14.
However, recognising the difficulties faced by employers currently, the government decided to defer the decision to double the levy to a later date to help employers cope with the current economic situation, he noted.
According to the official, by Jan. 2009, there were about 1.9 million registered foreign workers whereby 200,000 had already been sent back to their home country upon expiry of their work permits.
In dealing with the current sluggish economic climate, Muhyiddin said the government was taking all the necessary steps to ensure that local businesses remained productive and competitive, and that local employees remain employed./.