Businessman tells Kula to push on with local cooks policy

KUALA LUMPUR: The chairman of a group of manufacturing companies has urged the Human Resources Minister to stay strong in implementing the local cooks requirement policy.

In fact, a similar policy should also be implemented for professional jobs such as doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers, technicians and managers, with the exception of expertise that was still lacking in the country such as nano technologists or artificial intelligence (AI) experts, said Datuk Dr Wan Mohamed W. E.

“One of the primary objectives of Malaysia Baru was to ensure ample opportunities are provided for well-trained and skilled Malaysians to find decent paying jobs that would lead to higher gross household incomes.

“The policy to prevent non-Malaysians working as cooks (or even chefs in hotels) is a good policy,” he said.

He said this in an e-mail in response to the Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran announcing last Friday that all restaurants serving Malaysian food would be required to recruit only Malaysians as cooks from Jan 1, resulting in brickbats hurled at him on social media.

Some food owner associations also expressed shock over the announcement. In defence, the minister then said it was just a suggestion, and that he will meet stakeholders to discuss the matter.

Dr Wan Mohamed said food operators argue that the policy would lead to price increases, but the Government must ensure this does not happen as there are laws to prevent this.

“Implementation of the overall laws must be carried out efficiently and effectively,” he said.

He added that giving locals the jobs was a positive way to ensure the B40 Group could get out from the low income trap while the middle income group could earn more.

B40 refers to the bottom 40% of households with a monthly income of RM3,900 and below.