‘New RM1,200 minimum wage to be standardised nationwide’

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MIRI: The government will standardise the new minimum wage rate across the country pending an amendment to the Employment Act 1955, said Deputy Minister of Human Resources Awang Solahudin Hashim.

He pointed out that the ministry had made the decision on the new minimum wage which is RM1,200.

“As of now, 56 city councils and municipal councils have implemented the new minimum wage. The rest are still using the old minimum wage which is RM1,100.

“We will standardise this at all level for the implementation of the RM1,200 minimum wage,” he told the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Awang Solahudin was responding to a question by Lubok Antu MP Jugah Muyang on policies or plans for better salary for Malaysians especially post-Covid-19.

He added that the Cabinet has approved the new minimum wage and that the ministry will amend the Employment Act 1955 before tabling it in Parliament this session.

To another question by Jugah on how the government can reduce the number of foreign workers to give opportunity to locals who are badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, the deputy minister said the government had decided that foreign workers can only be employed in three sectors, namely construction, plantation and agriculture.

“There are 2.1 million foreign workers registered with the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Human Resources, and the government has made the decision that they can only be employed in the construction, plantation and agriculture sectors.  The other sectors will be filled by the locals, and this is among the guidelines that we have decided on to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country,” he said.