Do cleaning contractors have a choice?

THE Malaysian Association of Cleaning Contractors thank Liew Chin Tong, Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, for highlighting an important fact: the high cost of hiring foreign workers. However, he later contradicts himself, saying Malaysian companies opted to hire cheap, unskilled foreign labour.

His argument may hold true for some sectors of the economy but not the labour-intensive 4D (dirty, difficult, dangerous and demeaning) sectors such as cleaning services. I would not use the word “opted” when we have no choice but to hire foreign workers since Malaysians shy away from the 4D sectors.