Saturday, May 2, 2009

In a Flash 02 May 2009

IN A FLASH 020509

GOOD AFTERNOON AND SALAM MUHIBAH.

IT IS NOW TIME FOR IN A FLASH.

The Human Resources Ministry has identified a total of two hundred nine thousand six hundred seventy five job opportunities that can be filled by locals this year, its minister Datuk Dr. S.Subramaniam said today.

He said the vacancies were in the manufacturing, services, plantation, farming and construction sectors.

He said the ministry hopes to reduce its dependence on foreign workers and employers will give priority to hiring locals.

He said at the national-level Workers Day celebration which was officiated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil here.

He said from Oct 1 2008 till April this year, a total of seventeen thousand four hundred thirty six Malaysian workers faced retrenchment while seven thousand four hundred eighteen others took up VSS (voluntary separation schemes).

He added the majority of those retrenched were from the electrical and electronic sub-sectors, textile and clothing manufacturing and the services sector.

He said through concerted efforts by his ministry, till April 30, a total of seven thousand two hundred eighty five of those laid off were able to find new jobs.

The government, he said, encouraged employers to hire retrenched workers and had provided several tax incentives for this.

He also said the ministry is prepared to provide training in skills required by industries, including providing allowances for the trainees concerned.

Dr. Subramaniam also said employers needed to take various steps to attract local workers like drawing up work schedules that were suitable and offering pay packages that were appropriate for the work performed.

He said among the initial steps the ministry had taken in tackling retrenchment was setting up national and states level tripartite retrenchment monitoring committees which meet once a month to recommend measures to alleviate the problem.

Besides this, the ministry had also expanded the service of its 'JobsMalaysia' portal to include the public sector.

He also added since it was launched in May 2008, till April 26 2009, a total of three hundred six employers from various government agencies had used the portal to source workers.

/ENDS-BERNAMA


The Home Ministry, through the Immigration Department, has taken several measures and has given full cooperation to the Health Ministry in tackling the swine influenza at all entry points into the country, said its minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

Among the measures were to identify the country of origin of the visitors or whether they had visited countries which were confirmed as being affected by the influenza by the World Health Organisation (WHO), from time to time.

In addition, he said, cooperation was also being given to health officers in identifying nationals and visitors who came from or had visited countries which were confirmed by the WHO as being affected by the pandemic.

In a statement released Friday, Hishammuddin said that a second examination would also be carried out on nationals using the auto gate and coming from destinations that had been identified as being affected by the swine influenza.

He said thermal scanners had been installed at the KL International Airport (KLIA) and Immigration Department personnel would cooperate with health officers to inspect arriving passengers at the bays and in front of the international arrival counters.

He said the Immigration Department would also carry out similar inspections like the ones at the KLIA at other airports such as the Bayan Lepas International Airport, (Penang), Kuching, Miri and Bintulu (Sarawak), Kota Kinabalu (Sabah), Senai (Johor), and Langkawi (Kedah).

Hishammuddin said more stringent checks would also be carried out on nationals and visitors arriving at the entry points on land such as at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar and Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar (Johor Baharu), Bukit Kayu Hitam (Kedah), Padang Besar (Perlis), Pengkalan Hulu (Perak) and Rantau Panjang (Kelantan).



He said the Immigration Department and Marine Department would also identify and carry more detailed inspection on the health status of shipping crew who had been on board the ships for less than a month at the ports in the affected countries.

//ENDS-BERNAMA


THAT'S THE END OF IN A FLASH FOR TODAY.
SALAM MUHIBAH.

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