Give two-year grace before upping minimum wage — KCGCCI

KUCHING: The federal government is urged to give employers in Sarawak a twoyear grace period before increasing the minimum wage from the present RM920 to RM1,500.

In making the call yesterday, Kuching Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCGCCI) president Tan Jit Kee said the RM580 hike in minimum wage might come as a blow to industry players, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

He feared that many SMEs might even face closure if the government must implement the RM1,500 minimum wage policy by August.

He said this during KCGCCI’s 67th annual general meeting held at Wisma Chinese Chambers in Jalan Bukit Mata here.

Tan said the two-year grace period would be suffice to get employers especially SMEs ready for the new RM1,500-minimum wage.

Noting that the federal government would also reinstate the Sales and Services Tax (SST) by September, he hoped the government would set a reasonable rate (for SST) to avert inflation.

He lauded the government of the day for fulfilling its promise of doing away with Goods and Services Tax (GST) by reviewing it from six to zero per cent.

“The zero GST is indeed good news to both businessmen and consumers. The prices of many products have gone down because of zero GST and this leads to higher consumption and healthy economic growth.”

According to Tan, the commerce industry has confidence in the new federal government under the leadership of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had led Malaysia for 22 years from 1981.

He believed that Dr Mahathir’s vast experience in running the nation and his intelligence would result in more policies made to benefit the people in general.

As such, he hoped that the new government would fulfill its other promises as soon as possible.

Among the promises are the devolution of powers to Sarawak, recognition of Unified Examination Chinese (UEC) and systematic allocations for Chinese independent schools and aided Chinese primary schools.