Minister cautious about proposal for foreign bus drivers

By Dr. S Subramaniam, Minister of Human Resources

There is a report in papers today about Transnational’s proposals about allowing foreign bus drivers to work in Malaysia.

Before proposing such an idea the whole transport industry should relook at the way they are hiring and managing drivers.

Proper education and training of the drivers ,inculcating safety as the central core of the profession ,adequate social security benefits,system of remuneration which is fair and just are some of the issues which the industry should take a hard look at.

Putting the entire blame of the inadeqcuacies of the industry on the attitude of the drivers is unfair . Attitudes are creations of the work environment. Poor environments create poor attitudes and vice versa.

It has become a trend amongst employers to look at foreign workers as a quick fix to their human resource management woes. Malaysian employers should stop this and relook at how they are going to modernise their human resource management so that is relevant to current situations.

Foreign workers are creeping into virtually all industries in Malaysia. We have to be vigilant against opening a Pandora’s box which might threaten the entire fabric of this nation.