KUALA LUMPUR: Since October last year, a total of 31,161 workers, including 7,952 foreign workers, have been retrenched as of Wednesday, said Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Maznah Mazlan.
 
Among them, 6,921 local workers and 788 foreign workers were let go under a voluntary separation scheme.
 
Apart from retrenchment, 30,152 workers, including 8,518 foreign workers, saw their salaries reduced while 9,511 workers, including 1,766 foreigners, were given a temporary layoff.

“In coping with this development, the Ministry of Human Resource (MoHR), has been allocated RM650 million to implement various programmes to help stimulate the economy and at the same time prepare the Malaysian workforce with necessary skills to enhance their employability,” Maznah said at the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM) CEO Forum 2009 here on April 16.

The programmes initiated by MoHR are: Train and Place, Train and Retain, and Train and Replace. The first programme, Train and Place, will facilitate retrenched workers, unemployed youth and graduates, to find employment. In addition, MoHR would conduct training programmes for a period of three to six months.
 
Train and Retain will assist companies to not retrench their workers by giving training allowance for workers undergoing training during their offdays.
 
The third programme, Train and Replace, is aimed at addressing the high number of foreign workers in the country, which totals around two million semi-skilled and unskilled workers.

Under the programme, local workers would be trained for them to replace foreign workers in sectors such as security, hospitality, restaurants and other services sector.

“One of the significant strategies is the need for Malaysia to reduce dependency on foreign workers for example, enforcing the ‘foreign workers first out’ policy,” she said.

Over the last six months, 300,000 foreign workers whose contract had ended have not had their permit renewed, she added. Maznah was at the event to present the MIM-Public Bank “Manager of The Year 2008” award.

The “Best Manager of The Year” went to Hor Chee Leng, vice-president (head, treasury operations Malaysia) of OCBC Bank (Malaysia) Bhd while “Young Manager of The Year” was awarded to Noriswadi Ismail, vice-president corporate services of HeiTech Padu Bhd.