‘RETHINK PROPOSAL ON LOCAL COOKS’
Ministry must come up with amicable solutions, say restaurant owners
THE Malaysian Indian Restaurant Owners Association (Primas) has urged the government to reconsider the proposal of allowing only local cooks to be hired at restaurants.
Primas president T. Muthusamy said the proposal needed to be studied to avoid inconveniencing any parties.
“We are not against the proposal because we understand the concern regarding the influx of foreign workers into the country.
“But such a proposal must be implemented in stages and with proper planning. The (Human Resources) Ministry must come up with solutions so that we can settle this amicably, without causing any inconveniences,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.
He said Primas was requesting for only one per cent of the 2.5 million foreign workers in the country to work in restaurants.
“It is not a big number.
“This industry (restaurants) is essential and the matter needs to be addressed as its survival hinges on the availability of foreign workers.”
He said unlike 20 years ago, many restaurants now had more than 200 menu selections, and as such, the dependency on foreign workers was inevitable.
He said while restaurant owners had no issues with hiring locals, gaining access to them was difficult.
“We had advertised vacancies, but locals seemed uninterested in taking up the jobs.
“Nevertheless, we are willing to work with the government to employ and train local workers.
“But right now, how do we gain access to them? We, too, are concerned about our future generation, but how do we bring them to our premises?”
He said to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country, the ministry must also look into solving issues pertaining to foreign illegal workers.
Present was Malaysian Muslim Restaurant Owners Association president Ayoob Khan Muhamad Yakub.
On Friday, Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran was quoted as saying that restaurants serving local food in the country could recruit only locals as cooks from July 1.
He said operators would be given up to the end of the year to ensure that only local cooks worked in their restaurants.
The move, Kulasegaran said, was needed to reduce the number of foreign workers in the country.
The number of foreign workers in the country has seen an increase from 1.06 million in 2002 to 1.8 million last year.
The minister’s announcement however, had been met with backlash from the food and beverage industry, as well as the public, with many saying that more research should have been carried out before such a directive was issued.
The ministry had since stated that the directive was merely a “proposal” and would be studied further.