Local Companies Must Accelerate Automation as Future Foreign Worker Inflows Tighten, Says Johari

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Local businesses across all sectors must rapidly transition toward operational and production automation, as future foreign worker inflows are unlikely to sustain current levels, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani warned today.

Speaking to reporters after officiating the Women, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digital Economy Forum, Johari stressed that micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) alongside large corporations need to embrace technology as soon as possible to maintain productivity.

Johari clarified that foreign labor was originally brought in to undertake dirty, dangerous, and difficult (3D) jobs rather than displace local employees.

“We have to be fair to local workers because their lives are not the same as foreign workers’. Our people have many family members who need to be supported here,” Johari said.

Addressing claims by some employers that local citizens are unwilling to fill vacant roles, Johari urged companies to re-evaluate their wage structures and the overall economic value offered to prospective staff.

“If they are offered the minimum wage, maybe they do not want it as they don’t see the economic value. Our people are willing to go to Singapore to work because there is economic value,” he noted.

The forum brought together stakeholders from government, academia, industry, and entrepreneurship to discuss the evolving role of women in the AI era, focusing on value creation and ownership as artificial intelligence reshapes the future economy.

–NMT