SAY WHAT?
Why create the hoo-ha now? By the reasonable standards of a developing nation currently pursuing the objective of becoming a high-income nation, we should have this in our blueprint A LONG TIME AGO.
Yes, for some quarters, regardless of which side of the political divide that they might come from, this is a much-welcomed move. That is IF this plan is put into serious implementation. Added with the cut in subsidies and the journey towards economic recovery, the enforcement of a minimum wage legislation, or even a policy to say the least, should in some way or another ease the economic burden of the lower-to-middle income society - who happen to make up about 60% of the Malaysian working demography.
The lower-to-middle income group are arguably the driving force of the nation's economy. These group of dedicated people also happen to be the main engine constantly revving up to ensure the top notch performance of this fine vehicle called Malaysia (no offence to Proton, that is). However, we, as a collective nation are actually not doing these group of people any favour - since their employers are still able to issue them any amount of wage as they please, while seeking refuge behind the curtains of a demand-and-supply economy. This is all due to the absence of a minimum wage cap.
For the benefit of THE AQUINAS' readers out there, there was this National Employment Return study conducted last year, there is a staggering amount of 1.3 million workers, or 43% of the Malaysian workforce, who were earning less than RM 700 per month. RM 700 per month? What are these people going bring to their dining table? Just mere kangkung for every meal? To make things worse, this is actually lower than the national poverty line of RM 720 per month!
And according to the World Bank (whose credibility and impartiality THE AQUINAS doubted to a certain extent, but chose to quote here anyway), the yearly salary increment in our beautiful Malaysia for the last 10 years stands at a mere 2.6%, a stark contradiction with the 10%-15% increase in the cost of living within those years.
As you can see, people, you do not need actuarial science Mathematics to appreciate these figure (NERDS..).
And this is one of the many reasons why THE AQUINAS contends that we are not doing justice to the group of people who are busting their bones not only to make ends meet for themselves, but also significantly contribute to the ongoing progress of the nation's economy.
However, it is important to note that any implementation without intense pre-planning and detailed scrutiny will eventually lead to the failure of the policy itself. We are all too familiar that the Government has this penchant of diving into the ocean of policies without knowing its depth and the problems they might face undersea. It would only be a question of time as to when their oxygen supply runs out. Remember what happened to the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English policy? We might even end up by scrapping this whole policy altogether, not surprisingly only months after its celebrated debut. At the end of the day, we will have people feeling the pinch of we resort to that. And THE AQUINAS is referring to the lower-to-middle income group, of course.
Let's not have this dedicated people eat nothing but kangkung for their meals.
THE AQUINAS has spoken.
