COMMENT | Firstly a recent statement by Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) president Syed Hussain Syed Husman, as reported by Bernama on Feb 6, 2022, is neither surprising nor is it making sense. Let me just go and rebut his views.

1. Syed Hussain said now is not the right time to increase costs and tbhat the proposed RM1,500 new minimum wage implementation would derail the economic recovery.

Anyway, this seems to be a standard template used each and every time the minimum wage issue is discussed.

Maybe Syed Hussain should state when is the right time to increase the minimum wage because it seems there is no such time in his vocabulary. At all times, the MEF position has been ‘no minimum wage increase’, whether during an economic boom or recession.

2. We must remember that most Malaysian businesses are micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), whereby 98.9 percent are in this group.

This statement does not say how many workers are employed by them. In any case, PSM is of the view that this group needs to be helped - but then, the strategy should have been to tax the very rich individuals and companies and cross-subsidise the SMEs that need help...