EVENING 5: Rafizi: ‘Progressive wage model key to overcoming slow wage growth’
In today’s edition of Evening 5 — Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli says that the implementation of the progressive wage model will help to greatly address the issue of slow wage growth. Meanwhile, Berjaya Land has called out caretaker Kedah MD Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor over his recent remarks.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04 Economy Minister Rafizieh Ramli expressed his confidence
00:07 that the business community in Malaysia
00:09 will be receptive to the progressive wage model policy
00:12 papers that will be presented to the National Economic Action
00:16 Council on August 7.
00:18 The minister said a middle point has
00:20 been achieved between the government and private sector
00:22 employers that is a win-win, which
00:25 is expected to greatly address the issue of slow wage
00:28 growth in Malaysia.
00:29 He was speaking at a press conference
00:31 after officiating the launch of statistics on wages
00:34 for the first quarter of 2023.
00:37 Rafizieh adds that PWM, with its unique solution,
00:39 will also quell employers' concerns
00:41 that an increase in salary would result in higher operating
00:45 costs.
00:45 The minister further said he has also
00:47 urged the government to consider setting aside
00:50 a special allocation intended for wage increase
00:53 of private sector employees.
00:55 Responding to a question on if the PWM will
00:58 act as a silver bullet to address depressed wage
01:01 growth in the country in comparison to the minimum wage
01:04 policy, Rafizieh said the minimum wage policy
01:07 has its limitations.
01:09 He explains that the minimum wage behaves differently
01:12 in different economies and that for the Malaysian economy,
01:15 it had a series of unintended consequences,
01:18 where the biggest was that it actually dragged down
01:21 skilled workers' salaries.
01:22 Rafizieh said, therefore, a policy intervention via PWM
01:25 is important in that it reflects the skill and education
01:29 level of a worker and will address the weakness
01:32 of the minimum wage policy.
01:34 Meanwhile, the median pay gap between men and women
01:36 has widened based on the Employee Wages Statistics
01:39 Report for the first quarter released by the Department
01:42 of Statistics Malaysia.
01:44 According to chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd
01:47 Uzair revealed that in March 2023,
01:50 male formal employees, represented by some 3.58 million
01:54 male workers, earned a monthly median wage of RM2,664,
01:59 while 2.87 million female employees
02:02 earned a median monthly wage of RM2,554.
02:06 Despite disparity, he said wages for both genders
02:09 grew at 8.1% in the first quarter against the same period
02:13 last year.
02:14 There was no comparison data available for the previous year.
02:17 Uzair explains that the reason behind this
02:19 comes from the fact that male workers stay in the workforce
02:22 longer while women exit workforce at a much faster pace
02:25 to attend family commitments.
02:27 However, Uzair says DOSM is trying to get
02:30 more granular data on this.
02:32 PerjayaLand has refuted allegations circulating
02:39 in the press and on social media platforms
02:42 in regards to the Selangor Maritime Gateway project
02:45 that were made by caretaker Kedah MB Datuk Seri Mohd
02:48 Sanusi Matno.
02:49 In a statement, B-Land described Sanusi's allegation as
02:52 "false, untrue, unwarranted, unsubstantiated,
02:56 malicious and mischievous".
02:58 The company believes that Sanusi's speech was
03:00 "politically motivated, slanderous and designed to put
03:03 both B-Land and the Selangor state government in a bad light
03:06 by implying questionable dealings by both parties
03:09 in relation to the SMG project".
03:11 B-Land CEO Syed Ali Shaul Hamid said that it is
03:15 "taking immediate action by lodging a police report
03:17 and pursuing legal measures to protect its rights
03:20 in this matter".
03:21 The first accusation Sanusi made was that
03:23 Menteri Besar Selangor Inc. had sold a 55% stake
03:26 in its wholly-owned subsidiary to B-Land
03:28 and/or its related companies.
03:30 B-Land said that there is "no such purported sale".
03:34 The group explained that a special-purpose vehicle
03:36 through a JV between MBI's subsidiary and Berjaya Hartana,
03:39 called Landasan Lumayan Berjaya, was formed to clean
03:42 and develop the Klang River.
03:44 The second accusation was that B-Land and/or
03:47 its related companies were given 600 acres of Selangor
03:50 state land worth S$10 billion for free,
03:52 which B-Land outright refuted, saying that it had
03:55 "never obtained or was awarded such land".
03:57 B-Land also rejected the third claim made by Sanusi
04:00 that the Selangor state had incurred losses of S$180 million
04:03 by entering into a JV with B-Land and/or its related companies.
04:08 Bursa Malaysia has publicly reprimanded Exxon's Corp.
04:16 for failing to ensure that the company's fourth quarter FY2022 report
04:21 took into account the adjustments stated in the company's announcement
04:24 dated July 20, 2022.
04:27 In a statement, the regulator said Exxon's had reported
04:29 an unaudited loss of S$10.2 million in the quarterly report
04:33 in March 2022 that was announced on May 30, 2022.
04:38 However, Exxon's had subsequently reported an audited loss
04:41 of S$15.45 million in the audited financial statements for March 31, 2022,
04:47 announced on July 20, 2022, representing a difference of S$5.24 million.
04:53 According to the statement, this was mainly due to the admittance
04:56 of an additional investment sum and the reduction in impairment
04:59 for inventories held by the company.
05:01 Bursa Malaysia said Exxon's is required to carry out a limited review
05:04 of the company's quarterly report submissions
05:06 and is also required to review and assess the adequacy
05:09 of its financial reporting.
05:11 The regulator says that while it had not found any of Exxon's directors
05:15 to have caused or permitted the breach, it views it as a serious matter
05:20 and reminds companies that it is the duty of the directors
05:23 to maintain appropriate standards of responsibility.
05:26 Bursa Malaysia also points out that Exxon's had previously committed
05:29 a similar breach in respect of the company's announcement of its report
05:33 for the financial period ended December 31, 2014,
05:36 which was subsequently amended on May 28, 2015.
05:40 Malaysia will submit a new proposal regarding the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore
05:48 High-Speed Rail project to Singapore after initial decision on it
05:52 is made by the government, according to Prime Minister
05:54 Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim Berdama reports.
05:57 He said the new proposal would then be brought forth by Transport Minister
06:01 Anthony Lok Siu Fook for Singapore's consideration.
06:04 Prior to this, the media reported that Singapore had yet to receive
06:07 any new proposal from Malaysia regarding the HSR project.
06:11 On Thursday, Singapore's Acting Transport Minister Chi Hong Tat
06:14 told Singapore Parliament that the city-state is open to start discussions
06:18 on a "clean slate" on the proposed HSR link, Bloomberg reported.
06:22 To recap, the KL-Singapore HSR, which was agreed upon in 2016,
06:26 suffered multiple delays because of escalating costs
06:30 and was eventually scrapped in 2021 after both countries failed to reach an agreement.
06:35 The on-again, off-again 350-kilometre HSR link would cut travel time
06:39 between the centres down to about 90 minutes,
06:42 versus more than four hours by road transport.
06:45 The service was previously due to start in 2026.
06:49 SLP resources' second quarter net profit fell 61% year-on-year
06:57 to $3.49 million from $8.86 million a year ago as revenue declined
07:02 and there was the absence of a gain from the disposal of a parcel of land.
07:07 Revenue for the quarter declined 20% to $37.63 million
07:10 due to softening demand from local and regional markets.
07:14 Despite the weaker numbers, the group paid a second interim dividend of $0.125 per share.
07:19 Similarly, the first half earnings for the flexible plastic packaging products maker
07:23 more than halved year-on-year to $6.51 million as revenue shrank 16% to $77.89 million.
07:31 SLP resources said it had anticipated earlier this year
07:34 that both domestic and external demand would remain sluggish
07:37 under the current global economic environment.
07:40 Nonetheless, the group said it will remain focused in order to demonstrate
07:43 its product range differentiations to sustain its market share,
07:47 continue to strengthen its financial fundamentals to weather the potential impacts
07:52 arising from the current economic challenges.
07:55 [Music]