KOTA KINABALU: The implementation of minimum wages has been debated extensively since 2011, particularly by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other industry players.
About 40,884 or 6.1 per cent of small and medium enterprise in the country are based in Sabah. Nationwide, SMEs comprise of 97 per cent or more than 645,000 of the total business establishments.
According to Human Resource Minister Dato Sri Richard Riot anak Jaem in his speech at the launch of the Sabah-level Minimum Wages Clinic held at the Magellan Sutera Resort near here yesterday, since the Minimum Wages Order 2012 was gazetted on July 16, 2012 and enforced beginning January 1, 2013 for employers employing six workers and above and beginning July 1, 2013 for micro enterprises, SME employers had highlighted various concerns on the implementation of the minimum wages.
“Realising the huge impact of the new policy on the SMEs and the national economy, the government on March 20, 2013, had instructed PEMANDU and my ministry to jointly conduct minimum wages clinics to facilitate transformation of SME industries so as not to be too dependent on low-skilled and cheap labour. In addition, the government believes that through this minimum wages clinic we would be able to identify and implement the necessary policy interventions or approaches to reinforce the competitiveness of SMEs,” he said.
He added that in line with the government’s aspiration to transform Malaysia to a high income nation by 2020, SMEs were expected to play a crucial role in achieving this ambition.
He said the country was now facing a predicament of ‘middle-income’ trap which if not addressed in a proper manner would impede the country’s ambition to become a high-income nation.
“In light of this, the introduction of the minimum wages policy, after extensive deliberations at various forums and platforms, is truly meant to thrust Malaysia to break away from the ‘middle-income’ trap and become a high-income nation by 2020,” he said.
Riot explained that the main objective of the minimum wages clinic was to inform all industry players on the existing initiatives offered for SMEs, such as financial accessibility, advisory services, marketing, training and skilled manpower and automation grants for better accessibility to SMEs.
“This clinic also aims to encourage industry players to share their success and experiences in innovating their operations and processes. It also aims to bring in the enthusiasm and awareness among employers that any change in policy by the government is in the interest of all parties.”
Some 300 people participated in the one-day event yesterday.
Richard noted that the clinic held yesterday would not be the last and PEMANDU would be holding a clinic in Miri and another one in either Sandakan or Labuan.