Thesun 2009-03-30 Page05 Defer Levy Increase Says Federation

theSun

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| MONDAY MARCH 30 2009

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Defer levy increase, says federation by Yee Jie Min [email protected]

Strong support ...

Supporters of Barisan Nasional candidate Ismail Saffian (above) and PAS candidate Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin gather in full force outside Taiping Town Hall during nominations for the Bukit Gantang by-election yesterday morning. The third contestant in the by-election is independent Kamarul Ramizu Idris.

Kepala Batas projects will continue: Abdullah KEPALA BATAS: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has given the assurance that development projects in the Kepala Batas parliamentary constituency will continue even if he no longer holds the prime minister’s post. Abdullah, who is the Kepala Batas MP, said yesterday it did not mean that when one was no longer the prime minister, his area would be left behind. “Development programmes will continue in this area. It doesn’t mean that development projects will cease once I’m no longer the prime minister,” he said when opening 28 federal development projects

here. The projects involve 10 departments, including education, health, police, youth and sports, and fire and rescue. Sixteen of the RM391 million projects are related to education. Abdullah said more infrastructure projects should be implemented as they could benefit the people directly. He said the huge number of projects is appropriate as Kepala Batas is the administrative centre for the Seberang Perai district. Abdullah also assured Kepala Batas constituents he would devote more time to the area once he stepped down as the prime minister. – Bernama

N. Korea may launch mid-range missile pg 8

KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has called for a deferrment of the increase in foreign workers levy proposed in the second economic stimulus package. FMM president Datuk Mustafa Mansur said levy changes in the present difficult economic conditions, without giving the industry sufficient time for adjustment, would adversely affect business and increase unemployment. The government has proposed to double the levy for foreign workers from RM1,600 to RM3,600 a year in all sectors, except construction, plantation and domestic maids. Another proposal is that the levy, previously paid by the workers, would now be paid by the employers. In a statement, Mustafa said FMM’s second survey on the impact of the global economic crisis, conducted from Feb 18 to March 6, had shown that exports, domestic sales, production, new orders, profits, capital investments and expenditure are already badly affected. They are expected to deteriorate further in the next six to nine months and immediate changes to the levy policy would only hasten the deterioration process. Mustafa suggested that the policy and procedure changes should be pre-announced and implemented on a gradual basis, according to a set time-frame and in stages such as beginning with new recruitment and then renewals. He said that while FMM supports the need to reduce the dependency on foreign workers and to move towards greater automation and modernisation up the value added chain, businesses must be given adequate time to adjust their manpower requirements and plan their operations to phase out foreign workers. “Instead of doubling the levy immediately, the government should consider a gradual increase over time and in proportion to the percentage of foreign workers employed. Additionally, the levy policy must also be standard across all sectors,” said Mustafa. Since every business sector is facing financial difficulties, setting different levy rates for different sectors would be exploited, he said. Foreign workers brought in officially for the lower levy sector could be deployed illegally as contract or temporary workers to employers in the higher levy sector. Therefore, policy and procedural changes, in particular those relating to foreign workers, should be more comprehensive. “The operations of outsourcing companies should be terminated to address indiscriminate recruitment and oversupply. Levies should be used to help businesses finance their mechanisation efforts, such as investments in automation and in setting up childcare centres

to attract higher female labour force participation,” Mustafa said. He urged the government to review the proposed changes to the levy policy and defer the implementation on doubling the foreign workers levy until economic conditions improve and levy changes are appropriately planned. Bernama reported yesterday 26,224 workers have been retrenched as of March 19. It quoted Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan as saying 12,674 Malaysians and 6,651 foreigners lost their jobs outright while the rest took part in voluntary separation schemes (VSS). He expected more workers to be retrenched in the weeks ahead if there was no improvement in the economy. He said the recent mini budget did not have much an impact on the companies nor was there immediate incentive for companies to retain their workers. Except for the reduction in the contribution to the Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) by 0.5%, there was nothing immediate to gain. While it was true that the reduction would contribute some RM300 million a year to the manufacturing sector, it was insufficient as the companies were badly affected by the economic downturn. He proposed that companies be given direct subsidies for retaining workers as was being done in a neighbouring country. Shamsuddin said employers were doing their best to avoid retrenchment and to sustain their companies as long as they could. On the proposal to increase the levy on foreign workers, he said it would not deter employers from employing foreigners because Malaysians were not keen to take up jobs in such establishments due to the environment and difficult nature of the job. For example, in the glass manufacturing sector, the mould stripper’s job was not taken up by Malaysians because it entailed working in a very hot and humid environment for long hours. Shamsuddin said the government should be pragmatic and do away with the increase in levy as it would burden the already weak private sector. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), while sympathising with the employers, called on them to improve the work conditions to attract locals. Its vice-president, A. Balasubramaniam, said employers often gave the excuse that Malaysians were not interested in taking up jobs now being done by foreigners but they refuse to pay higher wages and provide better perks and incentives. He reiterated the MTUC’s long-standing call to the government to beef up its enforcement agencies to ensure that employers followed the country’s laws in providing the basic minimum work conditions and benefits.

NPC more likely in those with Chinese ancestry » From Front Page “Intriguingly, although almost 90% of the world’s population are infected with EBV, most people who are infected with it do not develop NPC,” Carif chief executive Prof Dr Teo Soo-Hwang (pix) told theSun. Teo, who is also an academician with UM, said: “NPC is more likely in people with Chinese ancestry and is also linked to environmental and dietary factors such as the large-scale consumption of salted fish and preserved food.” Another breakthrough accomplished in

the study was the finding that EBV infection caused a tumour-suppressor gene (a gene that protects a cell from developing into cancer) called ATM, to “vanish” in NPC tissue samples. This suggests that ATM, which actually protects cells from becoming cancerous, fails to mobilise its “defensive armour” when EBV invades the cells. To a question by theSun, Teo said EBV’s interference with the protective ATM gene is not “necessarily remarkable” among the Bidayuh or Malaysian ethnic Chinese, to cause such a high incidence of the disease

among both these ethnic groups. However, she said, new data from the study suggests that ATM may be a marker to enable clinicians to predict whether patients are likely, or not, to respond to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Teo said NPC can often be treated effectively with a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, because more than 70% of patients are already affected by late stages of the disease and some of these patients are resistant to many forms of treatment, a number of these patients still

succumb to NPC. “NPC that has metastasised (spreading in other organs) or is recurrent (growing again) are most common causes of treatment failure. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more research into how we can prevent, detect and treat this endemic disease,” Teo said.

“We are now conducting further research, in collaboration with partners in the UK and Malaysia, to determine whether this new information may be used in the diagnosis and treatment of NPC.”