Arguably the most popular automobile manufacturer in the country, Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd (Perodua) has declared that regardless of the state of Putrajaya’s plans to bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers in the next three years, it will not be hiring any foreign labour.
Perodua president and CEO Dr Aminar Rashid Salleh told Bernama that its in-house policy of only hiring locals into its staff would not be altered to take advantage of cheaper foreign labour.
Dr AMinar clarified, however, that Perodua does have several Japanese nationals on its payroll, but stressed that they were hired as specialised engineers, or as part of business partnerships with Japanese firms.
Earlier today, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi announced that the Federal Government had suspended the intake of all foreign workers into Malaysia, placing a freeze also on the three-year plan to bring in 1.5 million Bangladeshi workers.
The suspension was partly due to overwhelming public backlash against the labour deal with Bangladesh, which was agreed upon in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in Dhaka by Human Resource Minister Richard Riot and his Bangladeshi counterpart yesterday.
“The suspension will be in force until the government is satisfied with the manpower needs of the industries,” Zahid said.
