These days, if you go to a Mamak restaurant, you are likely to be served by foreign workers, many of whom are Indian nationals. A lot of people fear that these foreigners are “taking jobs away” from the locals. So the government decided to intervene by introducing a policy to impose double levy on foreign workers. Employers will have to pay RM 3,600 per worker, twice more than what they are paying now i.e. RM 1,800 per worker.
The restaurant owners protested. After hearing their protests and taking into consideration the current economic condition, the government has decided to
defer the implementation of double levy.
The intent of the policy is to reduce the country's dependency on foreign workers. The government hopes that by increasing levy, employers will hesitate about hiring foreign workers and opt for local employees.
However, even if the policy is implemented, I doubt that restaurant owners will switch to hiring locals. I think they will keep their foreign workers and pass the cost to consumers. In the end, the losers will be ordinary Malaysians who have to pay for higher food price.
If you talk to restaurant owners, you will be told that foreign workers are preferred because they are more dedicated than the locals. The foreigners don’t mind working long hours and in many ways, they are less demanding than the locals. They come to Malaysia with just one thing in mind – to work hard, make as much money as possible, and return home.
Even if the government is successful in discouraging employers from hiring foreigners, I think there will be a problem in finding their replacement from among the locals. I doubt that Malaysians, especially the younger generation, will rush to work as waiters or general workers in restaurants.
I believe the solution is to have restaurants that do not require many workers to operate. Perhaps it is now time to encourage self-service business model for restaurants if we want to reduce dependency on labors (both local and foreign). In a self-service restaurant, customers choose their own food and pay at the counter. Fewer workers are required since you don’t need waiters to go from table to table taking orders.
A change in habit among the locals is also required if we want the self-service model to be successful. Our local people like to leave their trays and plates on the table after they eat and expect someone else to take them away (You see this at McDonalds, KFC, and self-service restaurants along
PLUS highway). If they can start taking their trays away and emptying leftover food into the garbage container, then they will surely make the cleaner’s job easier.
The government can do its part to encourage the self-service business model by introducing some form of tax deduction for self-service restaurants. The government can also assist restaurant owners by giving grants to purchase machines that help automate the restaurants such as automatic dishwasher, ice dispenser, and soft drinks dispenser.
More importantly, restaurant owners must be willing to make the change to self-service model. If they keep doing the same thing, they will continue to face the same dilemma regarding workers. The double levy policy was only postponed, not canceled. When the economy gets better, I think the government will definitely implement it and we may have to discuss about this issue again in the future.
(Screenshot- Online Booking at Malaysia Airlines)
(Screenshot - Online Booking at Air Asia)
