Minister calls curb on labor drain

Minister calls curb on labor drain

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A Malaysian minister has urged authorities
to check a large labor drain to neighboring Singapore, saying
some 200,000 locals travel there daily to work.

International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz as
quoted in Monday's newspapers, called on the state government of
southern Johor, bordering Singapore, to set up a task force to
reverse the labor drain.

"We need to understand why Malaysians choose to migrate or
commute daily to work in Singapore when job opportunities and
career prospects are aplenty here," she was quoted as saying by
The New Straits Times.

The outflow of local workers was forcing Malaysia to bring in
workers from abroad, Rafidah said. Malaysia has some one million
legal foreign workers and thousands of others who are not
documented.