Dato Jonathan Chai
KUCHING (May 3): The federal government must adopt realistic policies and full consultation with all stakeholders before implementing any policy change, said Sarawak Business Federation (SBF) secretary-general Dato Jonathan Chai.
Referring to the recent proposal to increase employers’ contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to 20 per cent, Chai said it might derail the recovery of the country’s economy with many businesses still reeling from the economic shock brought by Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia crisis.
“Don’t get me wrong, most employers would be more willing to provide better welfare for their employees if they were in the position to do so,” said Chai in a statement.
However, Chai said various government policies implemented in the past years had caused far-reaching effects on the cost of doing business, including the revision of minimum wage, extension of the maternity leave and paternity leave, and reduction of weekly work hours.
“It’s easy for the government to come up with populist policies without due and sufficient consideration of the burdens of the employers, especially the small and medium enterprises.”
If businesses could not sustain due to the rising costs of doing business, Chai warned the consequences would be the closure of businesses and the loss of employment opportunities.
Objectively, Chai said the government should have stepped in to provide financial support to workers and the low-income-groups without hurting the business sector.
“In addition, any proposal or policy change that would have a direct impact on the costs of doing business must be done with full consultation of all stakeholders prior to the formulation and implementation of any policy.”
Chai also said the current statutory prescription of the rates of deduction and contribution towards the retirement savings for EPF members is deemed sufficient, if there were no relaxation of control imposed on withdrawals of such savings by the previous government.
Uni Malaysia Labour Centre (Uni-MLC) had recently urged the government to increase the employers’ EPF contribution to 20 per cent from the current 13 per cent for those earning RM4,000 and below.