Facing shortage of workers,nearly 2,000 traditional Indian tailoring shops in Malaysia's Johor state have asked the government to allow them to hire foreigners, including from India.
With a shortage of skilled local workers for the job,many fear they would have to shut shop if the government did not relax its regulation on importing foreign labour, to allow
them to hire Indians.
"Most of the workers with traditional sewing skills are foreigners from India and Pakistan," Malaysian Indian Business Association president P Sivakumar told the local Star
newspaper.
Sivakumar said they wanted the government to consider their plight as it was a unique problem.
He added that although most of these businesses preferred to hire Malaysians, there was a lack of local workers with the necessary skills.
"Small scale tailors cannot meet the current demand," he said, adding that there were plans to set up an Indian tailors association. Eight per cent of Malaysia's population of 27
million people are ethnic Indians.
Malaysia recently enacted regulation to restrict the number of foreign workers coming to the country in an effort to increase job opportunities for locals.
Sivakumar said the Government should consider long-term training plans to generate skilled locals.
A memorandum would be submitted to the Human Resources Ministry on the matter, he added.