LETTERS: The nation's dependence on low-cost labour is under scrutiny. Some describe the reliance on foreign labour as an unsustainable addiction. Many ask whether it is time for us to wean ourselves off this practice and employ locals.
That would ease unemployment. But there are businesses that cannot do without low-cost labour. They argue that without low-cost immigrant labour, there is no way their businesses can survive.
The sectors that are most dependent on such labour include the plantation, construction and manufacturing sectors, as well as some retail businesses and domestic helpers.
This has been going on for years. Covid-19 may be the game-changer as it exposed the worrying health consequences of our dependence on low-cost immigrant labour.
Are we paying a high price? It has become clear that the spike in Covid-19 cases, especially in Selangor, can be attributed to foreign labour quarters.
Their living quarters are overcrowded, creating fertile ground for the spread of infectious diseases. If we look at the new clusters that have cropped up, most are in overcrowded dwellings, including prisons, detention centres for the undocumented and workers' quarters.
Singapore had to deal with similar challenges, but managed to reduce the spread by targeted testing and isolating. Failure to do that would result in community transmissions. It is good to hear that the government is taking steps to address the issue.
Economists have warned for years that the deployment of cheap foreign labour is one factor that has prevented us from escaping the middle-income trap. It is also the one factor that prevents us from embracing technology to reduce reliance on manual labour.
Take the construction sector. The government has, for years, been promoting the deployment of IBS technology in the construction business. Yet the take-up is disappointing.
Many prefer to use low-cost labour. Now we see the negative aspects of that choice playing out as the pandemic ravages public health.
A rethinking is needed. The oil palm business is another sector that is dependent on foreign labour, especially in oil palm harvesting.
With the restrictions on the movement of labour, especially foreign labour, the industry is losing millions of ringgit worth of unharvested fruits.
The loss is even higher now as palm oil price, at more than RM3,000 per tonne, is in a bullish mood. To be fair to the palm oil industry, it has been trying for years to mechanise the harvesting of palm fruits. It has not been easy to produce something that can match manual labour.
Getting local labour is also not easy despite the fact that oil palm plantations provide comfortable living quarters and amenities for workers. The Human Resources Ministry will have to be more creative to reduce the country's dependence on immigrant labour.
The employment of foreign labour is also not good for the economy. The repatriation of money out of the country, which runs into billions of ringgit, deprives our economy of consumption spending.
Locals would keep such money in the domestic economy. Without realising, we are in the true sense paying a high price for low-cost labour.
Professor Datuk Dr Ahmad Ibrahim
Fellow Academy of Science, UCSI
University
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times