Photo: Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR: Issues of implementation will be ironed out by the government, including those related to the entry of foreign workers, says Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) told the Dewan Rakyat that the policies and statistics may appear "nice on paper" but there were many implementation issues that still needed to be addressed by the government.
"For instance, some 450,000 foreign workers had been approved to enter Malaysia but only 100,000 have arrived.
"Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan will meet with the relevant stakeholders today to find out the details of the issues - whether it is an issue from the source country, immigration or human resources.
"I am confident that he will be able to address those issues," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) during Question Time.
Tajuddin had asked the government for the measures taken to address implementation issues that had caused economic losses in various aspects of the economy including the plantation sector which had incurred an estimated RM20bil loss a year.
The Human Resources Ministry had previously allowed the hiring of foreign workers for three industries - construction, manufacturing and services - from all 15 source countries to help alleviate the ongoing labour shortage crisis.
Mustapa also noted that the Cabinet had discussed the issue every week for almost five to six months.
"We have discussed this every week until all of us are bored. That is why we have decided for the Human Resources Minister to go and meet all the relevant stakeholders," added Mustapa.
Mustapa said the Special Taskforce to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) met each month to discuss how to reduce red tape and bureaucracy in the government.
To a question from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Pejuang-Langkawi) on whether the depreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar would have any impact on government spending and the previous Budget allocation, Mustapa said the direct liability of the federal government in US dollars was below 5%.
"Most of the direct debt is in ringgit and the impact is minimal," he said.