theSun | MONDAY MARCH 30 2009 5

news without borders

Defer levy increase,

Strong support ... Supporters of Barisan Nasional candidate Ismail Saffian
(above) and PAS candidate Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin gather in full force
outside Taiping Town Hall during nominations for the Bukit Gantang by-election yesterday
morning. The third contestant in the by-election is independent Kamarul Ramizu Idris.
Kepala Batas projects will continue: Abdullah
KEPALA BATAS: Datuk Seri Abdullah here. The projects involve 10 departments,
Ahmad Badawi has given the assurance including education, health, police, youth
that development projects in the Kepala and sports, and fire and rescue. Sixteen of
Batas parliamentary constituency will con- the RM391 million projects are related to
N. Korea
tinue even if he no longer holds the prime education. may
minister’s post. Abdullah said more infrastructure launch
Abdullah, who is the Kepala Batas MP, projects should be implemented as they
said yesterday it did not mean that when could benefit the people directly. He said
mid-range
one was no longer the prime minister, his the huge number of projects is appropriate missile
area would be left behind. as Kepala Batas is the administrative centre pg 8
“Development programmes will con- for the Seberang Perai district.
tinue in this area. It doesn’t mean that de- Abdullah also assured Kepala Batas
velopment projects will cease once I’m no constituents he would devote more time
longer the prime minister,” he said when to the area once he stepped down as the
opening 28 federal development projects prime minister. – Bernama
says federation
by Yee Jie Min
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
KUALA LUMPUR: The Federation of
Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) has
called for a deferrment of the increase
in foreign workers levy proposed in the
second economic stimulus package.
FMM president Datuk Mustafa Mansur
said levy changes in the present difficult
economic conditions, without giving the
industry sufficient time for adjustment,
would adversely affect business and
increase unemployment.
The government has proposed to
double the levy for foreign workers from
RM1,600 to RM3,600 a year in all sec-
tors, except construction, plantation and
domestic maids. Another proposal is that
the levy, previously paid by the workers,
would now be paid by the employers.
In a statement, Mustafa said FMM’s
second survey on the impact of the global
economic crisis, conducted from Feb 18
to March 6, had shown that exports,
domestic sales, production, new orders,
profits, capital investments and expendi-
ture are already badly affected.
They are expected to deteriorate fur-
ther in the next six to nine months and
immediate changes to the levy policy
would only hasten the deterioration proc-
ess.
Mustafa suggested that the policy and
procedure changes should be pre-an-
nounced and implemented on a gradual
basis, according to a set time-frame and
in stages such as beginning with new
recruitment and then renewals.
He said that while FMM supports the
need to reduce the dependency on foreign
workers and to move towards greater au-
tomation and modernisation up the value
added chain, businesses must be given
adequate time to adjust their manpower
requirements and plan their operations to
phase out foreign workers.
“Instead of doubling the levy immedi-
ately, the government should consider a
gradual increase over time and in propor-
tion to the percentage of foreign workers
employed. Additionally, the levy policy
must also be standard across all sectors,”
said Mustafa.
Since every business sector is facing
financial difficulties, setting different
levy rates for different sectors would be
exploited, he said.
Foreign workers brought in officially
for the lower levy sector could be de-
ployed illegally as contract or temporary
workers to employers in the higher levy
sector. Therefore, policy and procedural
changes, in particular those relating to
foreign workers, should be more com-
prehensive.
“The operations of outsourcing com-
panies should be terminated to address
indiscriminate recruitment and over-
supply. Levies should be used to help
businesses finance their mechanisation
efforts, such as investments in automa-
tion and in setting up childcare centres
to attract higher female labour force
participation,” Mustafa said.
He urged the government to review the
proposed changes to the levy policy and
defer the implementation on doubling
the foreign workers levy until economic
conditions improve and levy changes are
appropriately planned.
Bernama reported yesterday 26,224
workers have been retrenched as of
March 19.
It quoted Malaysian Employers
Federation (MEF) executive director
Shamsuddin Bardan as saying 12,674
Malaysians and 6,651 foreigners lost their
jobs outright while the rest took part in
voluntary separation schemes (VSS).
He expected more workers to be re-
trenched in the weeks ahead if there was
no improvement in the economy.
He said the recent mini budget did not
have much an impact on the companies
nor was there immediate incentive for
companies to retain their workers.
Except for the reduction in the contri-
bution to the Human Resource Develop-
ment Fund (HRDF) by 0.5%, there was
nothing immediate to gain.
While it was true that the reduction
would contribute some RM300 million a
year to the manufacturing sector, it was
insufficient as the companies were badly
affected by the economic downturn.
He proposed that companies be given
direct subsidies for retaining workers
as was being done in a neighbouring
country.
Shamsuddin said employers were
doing their best to avoid retrenchment
and to sustain their companies as long
as they could.
On the proposal to increase the levy
on foreign workers, he said it would not
deter employers from employing foreign-
ers because Malaysians were not keen to
take up jobs in such establishments due
to the environment and difficult nature
of the job.
For example, in the glass manufactur-
ing sector, the mould stripper’s job was
not taken up by Malaysians because it
entailed working in a very hot and humid
environment for long hours.
Shamsuddin said the government
should be pragmatic and do away with
the increase in levy as it would burden
the already weak private sector.
The Malaysian Trades Union Con-
gress (MTUC), while sympathising with
the employers, called on them to improve
the work conditions to attract locals.
Its vice-president, A. Balasubramaniam,
said employers often gave the excuse that
Malaysians were not interested in taking
up jobs now being done by foreigners
but they refuse to pay higher wages and
provide better perks and incentives.
He reiterated the MTUC’s long-stand-
ing call to the government to beef up
its enforcement agencies to ensure that
employers followed the country’s laws
in providing the basic minimum work
conditions and benefits.

NPC more likely in those with Chinese ancestry

» From Front Page
“Intriguingly, although almost 90% of the
world’s population are infected with EBV,
most people who are infected with it do not
develop NPC,” Carif chief executive Prof Dr
Teo Soo-Hwang (pix) told theSun.
Teo, who is also an academician with
UM, said: “NPC is more likely in people
with Chinese ancestry and is also linked to
environmental and dietary factors such as
the large-scale consumption of salted fish
and preserved food.”
Another breakthrough accomplished in
the study was the finding that EBV infec-
tion caused a tumour-suppressor gene (a
gene that protects a cell from developing
into cancer) called ATM, to “vanish” in NPC
tissue samples.
This suggests that ATM, which actually
protects cells from becoming cancerous,
fails to mobilise its “defensive armour”
when EBV invades the cells.
To a question by theSun, Teo said EBV’s
interference with the protective ATM gene
is not “necessarily remarkable” among the
Bidayuh or Malaysian ethnic Chinese, to
cause such a high incidence of the disease
among both these ethnic groups.
However, she said, new data from the
study suggests that ATM may be a marker
to enable clinicians to predict whether
patients are likely, or not, to respond to
radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Teo said NPC can often be treated effec-
tively with a combination of radiotherapy
and chemotherapy.
Unfortunately, because more than 70%
of patients are already affected by late
stages of the disease and some of these
patients are resistant to many forms of
treatment, a number of these patients still
succumb to NPC.
“NPC that has metastasised (spreading
in other organs) or is recurrent (growing
again) are most common causes of treat-
ment failure. Therefore, there is an urgent
need for more research into how we can
prevent, detect and treat this endemic
disease,” Teo said.
“We are now conducting further
research, in collaboration with partners
in the UK and Malaysia, to determine
whether this new information may be
used in the diagnosis and treatment of
NPC.”