PETALING JAYA: After 14 years of being left in cold storage, the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KLSICCI) hail the move to reopen barbers, textiles and goldsmith sub-sectors.
Its president Nivas Ragavan said the announcement by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Monday (Sept 4) comes after a long struggle.
"This overwhelming news comes at the right time to protect and safeguard traditional Indian businesses that have been operating for generations in Malaysia.
"During the movement control order, these sub-sectors were severely impacted due to continuous closure lasting up to six months.
"Many of the small medium enterprises (SMEs) from three sub-sectors had to close down as they could no longer sustain the operational expenses and were unable to revive post-Covid-19.
"The KLSICCI and trade associations have been constantly engaging with the previous and current governments to address the freeze issued in 2009 and reinforced after a Cabinet decision in 2020 without any consultation with industry players," he said in a statement on Monday (Sept 4).
He extended his appreciation to Anwar and the Human Resources Minister V.Sivakumar for listening to them and resolving the acute shortage of workers, especially via the three-day approval under the relaxed application and recruitment of new foreign workers for five main sectors.
As such he said industry players now were beginning to see a brighter future by applying for new workers and legalising undocumented ones to support their business needs to resuscitate the supply chain system.
In appreciation towards the late Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub, who was the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister, the ministry Secretary-General Datuk Azman Mohd Yusof and Deputy Secretary-General Datuk Rozial Abudin as well as the ministry’s team of officers, Nivas expressed the industry and trade association appreciation for assessing and evaluating the concerns for these three sub-sectors.
Among others, he also expressed gratitude towards Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, for the joint collaborative efforts with the Human Resources Minister and the Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister in their pivotal roles to ease the Indian business community.
On Monday (Sept 4) Anwar approved part of the applications for the recruitment of foreign workers, involving barbershops, textiles and goldsmiths.
In doing this, however, he added the condition that local youths be trained to fill up vacancies in the three sectors.
