Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Budget 2008: Employment by race

105. The Government had announced in the 2007 Budget that all PLCs are required to disclose CSR activities in their annual financial reports. Beginning financial year 2008, PLCs will be required to disclose their employment composition by race and gender, as well as programmes undertaken to develop domestic and Bumiputera vendors. The private sector should leverage upon the strength of Malaysia’s diversity by employing Malaysians from all ethnic groups. [full Budget 2008 text here]
This new requirement must have escaped many people. When I read this paragraph, I was curious. What is the purpose of making it mandatory for PLCs to do this? Will they be rewarded or penalised, or will this be a pure academic exercise?
Will the Government require other establishments to declare their racial composition as well? Shopping malls, for example: do we make the KLCC tell us how many Chinese-owned outlets there are compared with Malays, Indians, foreigners, etc? And the GLCs?


26 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:42 pm

    Don't you find it odd that this sentence was inserted in between the CSR statements? Does this have something to do with the 50 million allocations?

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  2. Anonymous4:57 pm

    what about GLCs? too embarassing to reveal? oops, I forgot, PM says he wants to be fair to all races. so, all PLCs must comply with racial quota; if not the company to be delisted? goosh, the private sector works on merit unlike the public sector which is a vey different animal after undergoing a revolutionary reengineering exercise.

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  3. Anonymous5:49 pm

    full of shit.

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  4. Anonymous6:31 pm

    This is just another politicking gimmick.

    How the hell this going to help to create more jobs? All the companies care are profit and survival. It's not their job to ensure which supplier dies and which one thrives. This only incur more costs that resulted in more expensive goods and services.

    Msians just have to work longer and harder, if there are still jobs available, to pay for such idiotic politicking.

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  5. Hey guys, check out this patriotik video.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OROveFdp7Cs

    It's pure reflection of Bangsa Malaysia

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  6. Anonymous8:10 pm

    Two trading days in a row following the Great Budget, the KLSE fell. The investors didn't care about the Great Budget. They followed Dow Jones.

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  7. oh, I can't see the kind of the economy model we are practicing now?
    Quota system ? Lesser fair ? Socialist ? communist or Islamic Hadhadi ? so how about the GLC and civil servant quota, KSU ? how about Utusan ? Berita Harian ? TNB ? Bank Negara ? MAS ? PETRONAS, Proton ? the ministers quota >? the foreign investment? iT SHOULD be our own, RIGHT ?

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  8. Anonymous10:59 pm

    Perfect. Another nail in the coffin to drive away FDIs. Whats the purpose of this ridiculous requirement? PLCs are operated to make returns to their shareholders and employ people who can make this happen - whatever race or gender that person is.

    Is this another ruse to force PLCs to give employment to the 80,000 unemployable graduates? Hey, Gomen, you created this shit of unemployable graduates. So don't try to force PLCs to clean the shit for you. If you persist, there would not even be any PLCs left to force or for that matter, a country left to live in.

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  9. Anonymous2:38 am

    hei yaaa

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  10. What purpose does this serve ?

    Are the bumiputeras so underprivileged that plcs must be mandated to declare employment statistics and vendor devt programs for a particular ethnic group?

    I think it is a slap in the face for those bumiputeras who want to excel.

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  11. Anonymous3:32 am

    The Government had announced in the 2007 Budget that all PLCs are required to disclose CSR activities in their annual financial reports.
    .......................

    Why only PLCs?

    How about Government departments, statutory bodies, ministries, local councils, sports associations and schools?

    Does the government want the PLCs to delist from BURSA in order to avoid such crap?????

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  12. Just like your hypothesis, may be after election, the private sectors would need to do the same as well. I wouldn't surprise if "some" people would make use of the data to gain popularity or whatever motive.During "some" party general election,"some" races would be targeted.When would the vicious cycle ends?Perhaps,it were intended to take the spotlight away from economy slowdown?or whatever reasons?

    Brace yourself,Malaysian for a series of exciting 2008 events.

    Perhaps, I am too pessimistic.You could delete this comment,if you think it is offending the law for making wild accusation.

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  13. Anonymous10:31 am

    does everything have to boiled down to race compositions when we gearing toward one race for all... bangsa malaysia

    "stupid is as stupid does"

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  14. Anonymous10:38 am

    Bro, an OOT:

    Salam Ramadhan to you and all. - Amir

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  15. Anonymous11:31 am

    Something off from the topic again ... lol ... i am getting good at doing this stuff here ... heh, heh ...

    Selamat Berbulan Puasa to you and your family and the Muslim community reading and posting here ...

    ... :)

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  16. Anonymous11:36 am

    Perception is everything!

    Just like some of the responses to this write-up!

    Just read the news about the extravaganza on the government departments' spendings on the recent newspapers.

    Tie these up with the news about the efficiencies/productivities of the government departments.

    (what turns my stomach is the news about the returned library books are not been managed properly & put back up to the bookshlves by the 'librians'. These are not librians, guardians of knowledge, but leeches of human civilization)

    Then look into the racial make-up of these government departments - what PERCEPTIONS can one draw?

    Now this racial disclosure requirement for the PLC - again what PERCEPTIONS can one draw?

    The government has done a BIG DIS-SERVICES to those people who are at the other end of the PERCEPTIONS.

    The outsiders just bland all of them together, whether one is a lazy bum, looking for handouts & easy lives or a hardworking block.

    You might force the PLC to just mark-up the racial composition due to this subtle pressure BUT the big picture is definitely BAD.

    First - the lazy bum gets a good reasons for doing nothing & yet stays on the job due to 'QUOTA'. Meanwhile the hard-worker gets all the black spots!

    Second - when the accounting chips are down majority of the PLC will either move oversea or taking private. Either one bad for the country's economy.

    Bursa KL can kiss its aim/target goodbye due to hp6 listings. Those people will get even more unemployable whether lazy bum or hard-worker.

    FDI will not come in as there are more favourable countries to do business without all these 'qouta'.

    Looks like not only the FM is sleeping, in fact all those that involved in the country's economic planning are really sleeping together with the boss!

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  17. anonymous of 5.49,
    ditto to all you say !Yes this is so full of shit and they expect the PLC's to load-up of the excess garbage created by the government !
    Just wait for the next GE !
    still talking about race huh ?? damn crap !
    Cheers to you bro and Selamat berbuka puasa to all muslims !

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  18. Anonymous11:45 am

    Why the panic. it is a simple tool for gauging racial participation int eh economy. If the Bumis are so unemployabel and useless and it shows int he numbers then maybe the Government want to spend more on scholarships for them

    People see only what they want to see.
    Here is a snippet from an article titled “Malaysia’s Mongolian murder trial raises more questions than it answers” by Mat Salleh, who signed off as a writer from Asia Sentinel which appeared in RPK’s Malaysia Today.
    In Malaysia’s sensational and politically explosive case of the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a Mongolian translator and jilted lover, the trial of three defendants so far has been remarkable for the man who isn’t there: the most obvious potential suspect and witness. That is Najib Tun Razak, the deputy prime minister and defense minister. As shocking and lurid as the murder itself, it may well have implications beyond the crime itself for Malaysia’s defense establishment.
    On trial for their lives on charges of killing the 28-year-old beauty are Abdul Razak Baginda, who is accused of conspiring with Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri, 30, and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar, 35, members of the elite Unit Tindak Khas or Special Police Action Unit. Altantuya was found in a jungle clearing near the Kuala Lumpur suburban city of Shah Alam last year after she was shot in the head on October 18 and her body blown up with C4 plastic explosives.
    Despite the fact that the case has been underway since June, Najib’s name has been mentioned only once in the Shah Alam high court where the trial is being held. When his name came up, both the defense and the prosecution hurriedly demanded that the mention be withdrawn. Malaysia’s government-influenced newspapers have mentioned Najib only reluctantly in connection with the case, merely printing that he had sworn before Allah that he had never met the woman.
    This desperate writer is doing his best to implicate Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak because he knows that without this juicy aspersion on the character of the country leader no one would even give his piece a second glance.
    Many of us have traveled abroad officially and on holiday and sometimes we travel with our friends, good friends even and there are times when we do not care to know what our friends do on their free time when in Paris or Frankfurt or London.
    Sometimes they bring a companion along but we don’t ask, sometimes they go visit a certain postcode that we do not care for and there are also times when they meet someone there and become friends without telling us.
    I have stayed in the same hotel as a plane load of Malaysia Airlines cabin crew for a whole week in Paris without ever running into a single one of them.
    Just because Abdul Razak Baginda and Altantuya were together in Paris, it does not mean that Najib met her or even interacted with Razak beyond the official circle. Sure they are friends but that does not mean that they spend all their time together.
    It would be a different story if we are talking about the former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. See how easy it is to cast an aspersion.

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  19. Selamat Menyambut Ramadhan Al Mubarak kepada semua

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  20. Anonymous1:21 pm

    If it is not a political gimmick, then it is crass stupidity.

    The Bumiputras should feel insulted by the fact that the government can never have confidence on their ability to make it on their own. Stand up on your own feet and be counted!

    Period.

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  21. Anonymous2:57 pm

    utterly nonsense, only available in 3rd world racist country.

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  22. Anonymous5:50 pm

    This is just step number one. Step number two will start when they say this information is not enough. So you say that this plc has 20 Chinese 8 Indians and 222 Malays. But that does not say everything, does it? So they will next say they want to see, by race, the salary distribution which may go something like this:

    Annual Income Race
    MR M I C
    Up to 12,000 50 2 0
    12,001 to 18,000 120 3 0
    18,000 to 24,000 30 1 0
    24,000 to 36,000 18 1 7
    36,000 to 60,000 2 0 5
    60,000 to 100,000 0 1 4
    100,000 to 200,000 0 0 1
    200,001 to 500,000 0 0 1
    500,001 to 999,999 0 0 2

    Well, now only when such a statistic is published will those in UMNO will feel satisfied as it will now forment a new round of anger, hatred and envy over the non-Malays. The NEP can justificably be extended indefinitely and further measures can be instituted. But what is most important, the Malays can continue to feel slighted and will look upon UMNO as being the only party that can take them out of this and hopefully change the statistics!!

    Old Fart

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  23. It is most probably the doing of the NEP (Never Ending Policy), the government's slow and steady way to KILL the livelihood of non-bumis. So, thinking citizens, YOU what to do at the next Election lah!

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  24. Anonymous8:20 am

    Anon, 5.50pm

    If there is an imbalance there is an imbalance. you want to preserve Chinese superiority in the field of business and commerce. Your (imaginary?) statistics is a reflection of the real world and it shows the Chinese skimming all the cream, leaving the Malays to do the hard labour for them.
    You have blocked Malay inroads into retail and wholesale distribution since time immemorial. You give Chinese retailers, contractors etc preferential treatment when it comes to price, Why don't you talk about that discrimination?
    Why don't you talk about the Chinese domination of organised crime in this country? This is also a social problem. Don't try to pin all the problems in the country on the Malays and Umno and don't belittle our accommodating nature either. If you do not want us to be accommodating anymore do tell us.

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  25. Anonymous11:46 am

    The PM just does not know what he is doing???

    Does he know that every year every company has to fill up the employment statistic for the Statistic Department?

    Furthermore if any company applying licence from Mida/Govrn authorities need also to fill up such employment statistic.

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  26. Anonymous3:32 pm

    krani

    Well done! The eloquence of your arguments are stunning in their simplicity!

    In defence of PLCs, I suppose like looks to like. A top management dominated by Chinese would definitely feel more comfortable recruiting Chinese to fill positions in the said company.

    You don't have to go far to see how this principle applies. Look at the PLCs in Singapore. Care to hazard a guess as to the racial composition of their workforces? Or the foreign banks, law firms, management consultancies in Singapore. Ever run a slide rule over their employment records?

    There's a fine line between absolute meritocracy in recruiting to fill jobs in a PLC and a natural inclination to favour one's own kind.

    And all the pious posturings to the contrary ain't going to change this basic fact of life!

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