theSun | WEDNESDAY MARCH 18 2009
speak up!
Confidence building helps
resolve disputes
CLOSE cooperation between Malaysia and
Brunei has resulted in each becoming more
confident with each other over the years. Out
of the growing frequency of interaction with
each other came mutual trust and respect and
it is this that has resulted in Brunei giving up its
claim to Limbang, a de facto district of Sarawak
just across the Limbang River which people
from both sides cross daily. The claim dating
back from 1890 had not affected relations
between the two countries which remained
cordial throughout but both sides were aware
of the small “fishbone in the throat”. That
“fishbone” is now gone forever and the two
countries can now enjoy a new era of even
closer and brotherly bilateral relations.
The leaders of the two countries signed
the necessary documents to formalise the
dropping of the claim on Monday. It was a
historic moment for the two countries and
also for Asean where relations between its
ten members are impeded by territorial claims
and counter claims among them. Malaysia and
Brunei are therefore to be congratulated for
having resolved the problem cordially by them-
selves without even going to the International
Court of Justice. The settlement has helped
to reduce by yet another the number of ter-
ritorial claims among the Asean nations. The
way Malaysia and Brunei resolved the issue of
Limbang would not be expected to leave any
Job losses raise
a red flag
by Daniel Chandranayagam
AS RECENTLY as March 9, we were reassured
that the nation is not in recession. Second
Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop
was reported to have said, “We are not in re-
cession. Recession is defined as two consecu-
tive quarters of negative growth in real gross
domestic product (GDP) but we have not even
(recorded single negative growth yet).”
This must be reassuring news for the 54,977
workers who lost their jobs from October last
year until February this year. This also might be
a comfort for the 40,000 to 58,000 odd workers
expected to lose their jobs by the year-end, as
forecasted by the Human Resources Ministry.
From my basic understanding, retrenchment
(or any form of getting rid of one’s workforce)
should be the last resort. Author of Malaysian
Industrial Relations and Employment Law,
Maimunah Aminuddin, observes, “I believe
that there are plenty of employers who do not
understand the importance of keeping their
workers as long as possible. After all, to invest
in employees (through recruiting the best and
training these people) and then to retrench them
is obviously short-sighted, and bad for the long-
term survival of the organisation.”
In the course of a conversation with another
industry expert, I discovered that many organisa-
tions found their layoffs in the previous recession
did indeed cause them hardship as they did not
have sufficient employees to help them build up
when the economy began to take off again.
Irene Millar, director of Eco Leadership Pte
Ltd, explained to me that organisations should
begin to assess the strength and weaknesses
of their workers to make a more efficient and
productive team. Such programmes help
workers, teams and organisations work more
efficiently, so that, rather than having to get rid
of workers, the whole organisation becomes
more productive.
Unfortunately, this won’t work for produc-
tion-line workers, with whom most experts
agree that retraining is essential. Indeed, one of
the main focuses of the recent mini-budget was
on the retraining of retrenched workers.
However, with the 50% cut to the Human
Resources Development Fund from employers,
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thesun says
residual bad feelings between the leaders of
the two countries and their people. It helped
that the two countries did not really politicise
the issue throughout the years.
Of the other territorial disputes Malaysia
is involved in, the one with the Philippines is
the next most important one that has been
waiting for a long time to be resolved. While
Brunei claimed only a small part of Sarawak
the Philippines claims almost all of Sabah, a
claim Malaysia does not recognise. The dif-
ficulty with the Philippines’s claim is that it
has been politicised to such an extent that
any talk of the country dropping the claim
would be drummed up and capitalised upon
by interested parties into a nationalistic issue.
Following the failure of a frenzy of activities
to facilitate the Philippines to drop the claim
in 1987, both countries decided to put the
issue on the backburner. And there it stays
with Malaysia standing firm that Sabah is part
of its national territory. Meanwhile, relations
between the two countries have progressed
from cool to warm beginning with the time
when Fidel Ramos and Tun Dr Mahathir Mo-
hamad decided that they should be trading
partners despite the one problem between
them. Perhaps another round of diplomacy
should be attempted to bring to an end the last
of the problems that came up as a result of the
formation of Malaysia in 1963.
one wonders who will be
paying for the retraining
of the retrenched work-
ers. After all, everyone is Freespace
feeling the pinch. Where young views rule
Millar believes organi-
sations should reassess
their business practices so that they don’t need
to retrench workers. “We can trace the reasons
for the economic crisis to mismanagement
and unsustainable business practices. Building
a sustainable organisation, and being able to
retain your workforce, means growing at a pace
that can be maintained throughout the ongoing
business and economic cycles,” she says.
Still, the whole issue of the economic situa-
tion in the nation and the retrenchment seems
to follow the typical Malaysian close-the-door-
after-the-horse-has-escaped tradition, whether
looking at the government or at businesses.
To add insult to injury (at least to the re-
trenched workers), we were told that tens of
thousands of foreign workers had their visas
approved to work here just recently. What gives?
According to labour law, foreigners should be
the first to go. Following public outcry, the visas
have since been rescinded.
On this, Maimunah told me, “The government
is not in a position to curb retrenchment. How-
ever, there doesn’t seem to be much effort to
ensure employers follow the law (Employment
Act) and retrench foreign workers before they
retrench locals. Worse still, those foreigners who
have been retrenched are supposed to be repat-
riated. This is a condition imposed on employers
who hire foreigners. Anecdotal evidence from
the TV suggests this is not happening.”
I was told by an organiser of a feeding
programme that the number of people coming
for food had increased by a third. Initially, I was
delighted, thinking that more people had come
to learn about the help. The organiser shook his
head, “No, Daniel. It means more people can’t af-
ford to pay for their own food. Times are bad!”
Daniel freelances in writing and publishing, and
has a deep passion for sleeping, eating and
labour law. He can be reached at pottedplot.
com.